


Remy Essex

by WandaRavenBlack



Category: Marvel, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Family Secrets, Friendship, Human Experimentation, Hurt, Laboratories, Nightmares, Pain, Sad, Secrets, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2018-09-22 11:12:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9605357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WandaRavenBlack/pseuds/WandaRavenBlack
Summary: A mission goes wrong. The X-Men are captured. Secrets are revealed. What is Remy hiding? And why does he seem to know their captors so well?UPDATES ON 00.00 CET BETWEEN FRIDAY AND SATURDAY.





	1. Captured

“Are you listening LeBeau?!” 

Remy looked up from the solitaire game he had on the table. 

“Non.” 

Scott’s eyebrows shot up. 

“What? Let me get this straight. You have not been listening to what was being said here. You were simply ignoring everything! Why are you even here?!” 

Remy tilted his head. 

“Remy’s here because he was told to be here, mon ami. By you.” 

Storm giggled and Logan smirked. Not many of the others would talk back to Cyclops like that. Suddenly the professor wheeled himself closer to the table. 

“Remy.” 

Remy’s head lowered immediately. No one was really surprised. Out of all them, Xavier and Jean were the only ones that could put the cajun in his place. Not that they ever overused it. Before anyone could say anything more, the door opened violently and Hank rushed inside. 

“Professor! Professor!” 

He didn’t manage to stop in time and stumbled over the staff that was standing against Remy’s chair. Logan caught him in the last second before he smashed into the table. Remy stood up to pick up his staff. Meanwhile Hank was still trying to say everything at the same time.

“Got… From the police… I scanned… Mutant patrol… Fighting…” 

Logan pushed him down onto the chair that Remy had abandoned. 

“Calm down Furball. Take a deep breath and start from the beginning.” 

Hank took a deep breath and looked around. Ororo and Jean were sitting next to each other. Rogue and Bobby were sitting a bit away from them. Scott was still standing at the head of the table. Xavier was next to him in his wheelchair. Remy had moved to stand against the wall and watched them all from a distance. 

“I was listening in to the police scanners to hear if they have any news about mutants in the city. I heard about some fighting that a few patrols were dispatched to. No one came back from there. They suspect that the policemen were killed. There seems to be a wild mutant group on there. They call themselves the Marauders.” 

Remy’s staff fell to the ground with a thud. Everyone turned to him. Scott, still angry for not being listened to, snapped at him:

“Keep quiet.” 

Remy glanced over to Logan. The feral was looking at him in surprise. He had felt the cajun’s sudden fear when the Marauders were mentioned. But he didn’t let it show. Xavier looked around. 

“Everyone to the Blackbird. We don’t have time to prepare too much. We’ll go through a battle plan in the Bird.” 

Everyone left quickly. Everyone but Remy. He was standing at the table and picking his cards up. A few seconds after the last person left, Logan came back in. 

“Gumbo? What’s going on?” 

Remy looked at him with surprise. Faked surprise. He knew that ferals could sometimes sense the hormones that were released with strong emotions. Logan must’ve known that he knew because he simply raised his eyebrows. 

“Come on cajun. Talk.” 

Remy grabbed the rest of the cards and pushed past the feral. 

“Gambit doesn’t know what Wolvie is talking about.” 

And he left. Logan let out a soft growl of frustration and followed the cajun. When he got to the Bird, Jean and Hank were in the pilot seats. Scott was going through what they knew about the Marauders with Xavier. It wasn’t much. Remy, Ororo and Bobby were talking about something they had planned for the next weekend while Rogue listened to them. He went inside and the door closed behind him. He went over to Scott and Xavier. 

“What do we know about them?” 

Scott shook his head. 

“Not much. The only ones that we know about for sure are Scalphunter, Blockbuster and Sabretooth.” 

That got Logan’s full attention. 

“Creed? Creed is part of them?” 

Scott nodded. 

“Yeah. But that’s all we know about them.” 

Remy sighed and slowly went over to them. He stopped in front of the professor and said quietly:

“I can tell you more about them.” 

His cajun accent was even thicker than usually which told them that he was nervous. Scott looked at him with suspicion. 

“How can you tell us about them? And WHY can you do that?” 

But Remy kept his eyes on Xavier. The professor, noticing that the cajun was looking at him, asked softly:

“What do you mean Remy?” 

“Gambit has information. Names. They are nine of them. Sabretooth, a feral. Arclight, creates seismic energy. Vertigo, makes you feel dizzy and sick. Scalphunter, healing factor and manipulates mechanical items. Harpoon, transforms objects into bio-energy. Blockbuster, superhuman strength, stamina and durability. Scrambler, disrupts function of all the things, can disrupt mutations or paralyze. Riptide, spins at inhuman speed and produces projectiles from his bones. Prism, refracts energy.” 

All the X-Men were staring at him. Scott, being the most suspicious, moved to stand in front of the cajun and asked with an accusing voice:

“How do you know all that?” 

Remy, who didn’t have any chance to look at Xavier, just shrugged and turned away from Cyclops. 

“I just know.” 

“Don’t you turn away from me LeBeau!” 

Scott grabbed Remy’s shoulder and turned him around. The cajun’s red eyes flashed with anger. But before he could do anything, a pair of handcuffs appeared. They flew through the plane and attached themselves to Remy’s wrists. Then they pulled him to the wall and attached themselves there. The thief looked around with surprise. Jean was sitting in the pilot’s chair and looking at him. 

“I’m sorry Remy. But, since you won’t talk, we can’t trust you out there. Especially since you seem to know so much about them.” 

Remy snorted. 

“So that’s what Gambit gets for trying to be helpful.” 

Logan looked to Xavier who still hadn’t said anything. He himself thought that Jean and Scott were a little harsh. Did it really matter how the cajun knew those things?

“Chuck. Say something.” 

The professor looked over to Remy. 

“I’m sorry Remy. But Jean is right.” 

The cajun lowered his head, like he always did when the professor had told him something. The rest of the flight was spent in silence. Hank and Jean landed softly on the ground. The fight started almost as soon as they stepped out of the plane. Logan was attacked by Sabretooth and the two ferals started to roll around on the ground. The rest of the X-Men fought with the Marauders and the fight seemed to be quite even until a black smoke appeared. A tall man stepped out of the smoke. His eyes were glowing red against his literally white skin. He put his hand up and all the X-Men but Jean and Xavier fell down, screaming in pain. The Marauders quickly caught them. Jean moved closer to the professor. 

“Charles Xavier.” 

The professor seemed to suddenly understand. 

“Mr Sinister. I should have guessed.” 

Sinister smirked. 

“You should have. Now give up and let my Marauders cuff you or the rest of your team will die.” 

Jean and Charles looked at each other. Both knew that there was no other way. They had to do it. Slowly both of them nodded. A second later they were all enveloped in black smoke. Logan, having enhanced hearing, managed to hear Sinister’s last words before he disappeared. 

“Creed. They left a gift for us in the Blackbird. Get it.” 

Then everything became black. When he could see again, he had metal casings on his hands. He tried to pull his claws out but it proved to be pointless. They couldn’t cut through the metal. He looked around only to see all the other X-Men in the same cell that he was in. Scott, Jean, Rogue, Xavier, Bobby and Ororo had collars around their necks. It seemed that they were blocking their powers because Scott didn’t have his glasses on and nothing was happening. Professors wheelchair was gone and the man was sitting in the middle of the cell. Hank had metal casings on his hands and feet as well as something that looked almost like a muzzle on his face. In a corner was Remy. He had a collar around his neck and a gash across his forehead. The X-Men all moved closer to the professor. 

“Everyone alright?” 

Storm started to turn the collar a bit. 

“Except for this thing, yeah.” 

Everyone nodded. Scott turned to Remy, who still hadn’t moved from his spot, but before he could say anything, the door opened and Sinister walked in. Behind him were Sabretooth and Scalphunter. Sinister looked over to the X-Men in the middle and smirked. 

“It seems that I’ve gotten myself some nice experiment subjects here.” 

Then he turned to Remy and his grin widened. 

“Oh, and my favorite mutant. Come here Gambit.” 

Everyone turned to Remy who didn’t even look up. Sinister frowned. 

“You already forgot your manners? Let’s remind you of a few things, huh?” 

He raised his hand towards the cajun and the young man started to scream in pain. The X-Men were shocked. They had never seen him show any pain. Suddenly the screaming stopped. Remy was laying on the floor, shaking. Sinister passed the X-Men, who were too shocked to do anything, and looked down at the cajun.

“Get up.” 

Slowly, Remy stood up. His whole body was shaking but he managed to stay up. Sinister smirked. 

“Good. Now tell me about them. Everything you know.” 

Something like anger appeared in Remy’s eyes. 

“Why do you think I know about them?” 

Sinister’s eyebrows shot up. 

“Watch your tongue boy. You’re a thief. You notice things. Now you’ll tell me everything. Start with the professor.” 

Remy’s eyes moved over to Xavier. So did Sinisters. The scientist looked between them and suddenly seemed to realize something.

“You’re afraid of him.” 

The X-Men were shocked. There was no way the cajun was scared of the professor. Yeah, he did seem to have more respect for the man than for any of the others, but he never seemed scared. Sinister pointed to Sabretooth.  The feral came forward and everyone noticed how Remy’s full attention moved from Xavier to Creed. 

“Never thought I would see you again runt.” 

And that was when Scott finally found his voice. 

“What’s going on? You know them?” 

Sinister raised his eyebrows. 

“You didn’t tell them? Interesting. Maybe we should just leave you here then. For now. See how these so called friends of yours will react to the truth.” 

Remy paled and Sinister left, laughing. Before the other two could leave, Remy moved forward. 

“Victor?” 

The feral turned around. 

“Don’t do this.” 

It looked almost as if Creed was hesitating. But then Scalphunter put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him out of the cell. 

“Nice try LeBeau.” 

Remy shrugged lightly. 

“It was worth a shot.” 

Scalphunter smiled. 

“I’ll get some people together and come by later with some cards. We’ll play a few rounds.” 

He hesitated and then added. 

“It’s good to have you back Remy. Believe it or not, but we’ve kinda missed you.” 

Remy nodded. 

“I missed you too. But I never missed this.” 

He waved his hand at the cell and the collar. Scalphunter sighed. 

“Behave yourself and he might take you back.” 

But Remy shook his head. 

“Even if he would, I would never come back. You know that Greycrow. There are other places. Other ways. Even for people like us.” 

The man frowned. 

“Other places? Like what? Magneto’s Brotherhood? Go from serving one person to another? Or join the X-Men like you did and never be trusted? Go to the humans? To be locked up in labs and experimented on because they don’t understand us? Face it Remy. The only way for all of us to live, is together. The Marauders. With Sinister.” 

“Together? And what? Go out and beat innocent people up? Assassinations? More MASSACRES?” 

Greycrow sighed again. 

“Is that what it was about? The fact that we fooled you? That we didn’t tell you what we were going down there for? If we told you, you would never had led us there. I know you. You would never want to be a part of something like that. Creed was right. All you had to do was walk away. No one would blame you.” 

“I would blame myself. I’m the reason it all happened. You wouldn’t have gotten in there if it wasn’t for me!” 

The man just shook his head. 

“I’ll be back later.” 

Then he turned around and left. Logan slowly went forward. 

“Gumbo?” 

Remy turned to him. His red eyes were almost matt. He stepped back to his corner and sat down. And Logan didn’t have the heart to press him. He looked over to the other X-Men. They were staring at Remy. This was not good.


	2. Remy Explains

Xavier was the first one to speak.

“Remy?” 

The cajun sighed. 

“Non. Please. I don’t…” 

“You don’t what? Don’t mess with us LeBeau!” 

Scott’s voice was harsh. Everyone knew that Scott and Remy had never gotten along but the way he said that was shocking to the others. 

“Scott. Calm down. Let Remy speak for himself.” 

Logan went over and sat down next to the cajun. 

“Just tell us Gumbo. We’re your friends.” 

Remy’s eyebrows shot up. 

“Friends? You left me locked up in the jet. I couldn’t even protect myself when Creed came to get me. Is that what friends do? Because if it is, then this cajun doesn’t want to have anything to do with friends.” 

Logan growled softly. 

“Stop it. I’m on your side here. I’m not judging. What kinda man would I be if I judged you after all that I have done?” 

The cajun stared at him for a long moment before he nodded. 

“It started when I was young. Shortly after Jean-Luc took me from the streets and made me his son. I was sitting on a roof, looking for someone to rob, when I saw a young girl with blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. There were some men that were following her and I recognized them as Assassins. If I had known who she was… They were obviously following her. I didn’t want her to get harmed. So I jumped down on the men. They never knew what hit them. But then she… She was beautiful, mon ami. Dancing around with that knife as if it was normal. They were dead before I knew it. Her name was Belladonna Boudreaux. And she was the Assassin’s little princess. If I had known… But my pere didn’t ever tell me about the fight. He just said to stay away from the Assassins. Me and Bella became friends. She was shocked when she found out that I was Jean-Luc’s son and told me that I couldn’t tell him. I didn’t understand why so I told him. He of course forbid me to see her. Which I ignored. When we grew up, and I knew about the fight between Thieves and Assassins, my pere decided that me and Bella would marry to create peace between the two Guilds. We agreed. We were really in love. We married. At the wedding everyone was there. And then Julien, Bella’s brother, challenged me to a fight. Life and death. I agreed even though both Assassins and Thieves said that it would be accepted if I didn’t. I planned on getting him down and then leaving. He got the upper hand at one point and I threw my knife at him. It struck him in the shoulder. I didn’t know… If I had known…” 

He shook his head frantically. Jean was the first one to realize what he was saying. 

“You charged that knife, right?” 

Remy nodded. Scott looked like he wanted to say something but Jean was quicker.

“You didn’t have control over it?” 

The cajun shook his head again. 

“I didn’t even know I could do that. That part of my mutation showed up really late. I had my eyes since I was born. I could see in the dark since forever. But I didn’t know I could do THAT. It didn’t kill him. Ripped his arm off and burned one side of his face. The Assassins gave Jean-Luc an ultimatum. Me or peace. He had the whole Guild to think about. He banished me. I told Bella to stay with her family and left. I accidentally blew a theatre up. Miraculously no one got hurt. But it drew attention to me. Sinister’s attention. He told me that he could help me control my powers. I didn’t want to be in debt to him so i refused to hear him out. A week later, I couldn’t even put clothes on without making them blow up. I was burned all over my body. Sinister found me again and offered help. I didn’t want to hurt anyone so I accepted. I couldn’t control what I was doing. Things blew up as soon as I looked at them.” 

Scott lowered his  head. After all, he knew best of all of them, how it was to not be able to control powers like that. Suddenly he felt some kind of sympathy towards the arrogant thief. And Remy just continued. 

“ Sinister performed some operation on my brain. Took something out and I could control my powers. But I was in debt. And paying it off was not easy. Sinister wanted more and more. Stealing, kidnapping, blackmailing. And Remy had to do it all. And then he asked to get some people together. So me and Greycrow went out to get people. We created the Marauders. I thought that it would be enough. But he wanted one more thing. Said it would be the last. I was going to lead the Marauders down to Morlock tunnels. And I did. I swear, I didn’t know. When Creed killed that man. I couldn’t… I grabbed one little girl and got out. I hid. I couldn’t go anywhere since the surviving Morlocks had found out about me and tried to find me.” 

Bobby tilted his head. 

“Why didn’t you help the other Morlocks? Why just one little girl?” 

Remy smiled but there seemed to be pain in his smile. 

“Do you really think that they would just let me walk away?” 

He slowly raised his shirt to show five deep claw marks across his chest. Logan growled recognizing the pattern. Next to the professor, Hank froze. He had seen those marks before. But usually it was on corpses of dead mutants. He had never seen them on a living person. He wanted to say something but the muzzle stopped him. As if reading his mind, Logan growled:

“Creed.” 

Remy nodded. 

“I tried to stop them. But it was nine against one. Creed got me. I was wounded when I stumbled across that woman. She begged me to take her daughter away from the tunnels. So I took her with me.I left her at a safe house and went away. I went to a normal hospital and got stitched up. Then I hid until Logan found me and asked me to join the X-Men.” 

Remy finished his story and leaned heavily against the wall. He looked tired. Jean slowly moved closer to him and sat down on the floor in front of him. 

“Remy. Did you have any idea about what was going to happen in those tunnels?” 

He shook his head. 

“But I should have guessed. What else were they going to do in the tunnels if not fight? I was so stupid.” 

She nodded. 

“Yes, you were. But you were also innocent. You didn’t have any other choice. You did what you could to keep others safe from your powers. You tried to do the right thing. You could have tried to get out. You could have tried to contact anyone. But I don’t think you thought about that possibility. What I need you to understand is that the Morlocks were not your fault. You tried to save them when you noticed what was going on. You didn’t kill any of them.” 

He looked at her with doubt. 

“Merci Jeannie. But you don’t understand.” 

He then leaned his head backwards and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, his breath evened out. Scott raised his eyebrows. 

“Is he asleep?” 

Logan nodded. 

“It’s a thief thing. He can sleep whenever and wherever he wants. But he can also wake up if he hears as much as one sound that doesn’t fit in.” 

Jean slowly moved so that she was leaning against the wall. Slowly they all moved to sit like that. Hank helped Xavier move to a more comfortable position. After around an hour of silence, the X-Men started to fall asleep. Rogue was sitting in one of the corners with Bobby’s head in her lap. Jean was asleep with her head on Scott’s shoulder. Xavier had sunk to the side a bit and was snoring softly. Hank was curled into a furball on the ground. Sometime after he had fallen asleep, Ororo gently laid down and buried her face in his fur. Logan wanted to say something when he suddenly heard Remy’s quiet voice:

“Don’t be jealous, mon ami. Ro only has feelings for you. Henri is like a brother to her.” 

The feral was shocked. 

“How do you know…?” 

“That you love Ro? I… I don’t only see in the dark and blow things up. On top of that, I’m an empath.” 

Logan just stared at him. Then he grabbed the cajun by his hair and growled. 

“If you tell her…” 

Remy just smirked. 

“Calm down Wolvie. If I wanted her to know, I would have told her long ago. You’ve had those feelings for quite a while.” 

The feral closed his eyes and let go of the boy.  

“Just sleep cajun. I’ll keep an eye on the others.” 

Remy shrugged and closed his eyes again, falling asleep in seconds. Logan sighed and leaned back. Now he understood why the cajun had never been afraid of him when the others backed down. After having lived with Creed, Logan must’ve been more like a nice dog who sometimes growled at people. He smiled softly when he looked over to Ororo again. If the cajun was right, maybe he should try to talk to her. Before anyone else found out. But first they would have to get out. He glanced at the cajun. He knew that Sinister would not let go of him that easily. 


	3. Breaking The Walls

Logan woke up hearing movement outside the door. He looked around and noticed that the sound had woken Hank and Remy too. They sat in silence for a moment. Then the door opened. In the opening stood a tall woman with long green hair and Victor Creed. The man stayed in the doorway while the woman slowly went over to Remy. 

“Hey Rems.” 

The cajun smiled softly. 

“Bonjour Iggy.” 

She sat down in front of him and put a hand on his cheek. To the two feral’s surprise, he didn’t move away from her like they thought he would. She let her hand travel across his cheek a bit before she pulled her hand back and slapped him. Remy’s head snapped to the side and he lowered his head. She grabbed his hair and forced him to look at her again. 

“What do you think you’re doing?! You’re not supposed to be here!” 

Remy shrugged one shoulder. 

“Not my fault.” 

She looked suddenly very furious.

“Not your fault?! Then whose?! Why did you even get close to the fight when you knew we would be there?! You complete idiot!” 

And she slapped him again. This time, Remy looked up again almost immediately. 

“I didn’t mean to be anywhere near you again. But I couldn’t just leave the X-Men before a battle. I’m not like that.” 

By now everyone was awake. The woman sighed. 

“I know. I just don’t want you to get hurt. Again.” 

“How bad is it?” 

She shook her head. 

“Don’t even ask. He is furious. He wants you back and he wants you to follow him blindly without questioning anything.” 

Remy lowered his head. 

“You know I can’t.” 

“You can’t what?” 

Everyone turned to the doorway where Sinister was standing. 

“Vertigo, Sabretooth. Out. I will have a talk with the two of you later.” 

The woman stood up and left quickly with Creed going after her immediately. Sinister closed the door and smirked. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this. Some of the most powerful mutants in my hands. I almost don’t know which one to start with.” 

Logan growled and tried once again to draw his claws out but was unsuccessful. Sinister shook his head. 

“There is no need in trying that. You won’t be able to cut through the metal.” 

Then he turned to Remy and tilted his head a bit. 

“Come with me. There are things we need to discuss.” 

The cajun shook his head. 

“Non.” 

Sinister took a deep breath. 

“Don’t make me force you. I won’t hesitate to hurt you and you know that.” 

A moment later Remy slowly stood up and went over to him. But before the scientist could say anything, the cajun kicked his leg forward and managed to get Sinister to the ground. He flipped the man over to his front and put a hand on his neck. A second later he was screaming on the ground. He was kneeling and his arms came up to shield his head from an invisible attack. Logan tried to get up to help him but Jean stopped him. She looked scared. Sinister stood up and kicked Remy in the side so that the man fell to the side. The screaming had stopped but the cajun was still whimpering and shaking. Sinister smirked. 

“I told you that I wouldn’t hesitate.” 

He delivered another kick and then stepped away. Remy stayed on the ground, whimpering, for another two minutes before he suddenly stilled. Sinister went closer to him again. But it seemed that Remy couldn’t move. The man smirked. 

“I’ll leave you now. You were never useful after me getting into your mind.”

He gave the cajun one last kick and left the cell. As soon as he was out, Jean, Ororo and Logan rushed over to Remy. 

“Remy? Please Remy, say something.” 

The cajun slowly opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to look at Ororo. 

“Give me a moment.” 

He then closed his eyes. His head was killing him. Sinister had always been strong enough to break his walls. And having those walls broken was painful. Sinister knew that. It was the main reason why he was always doing it so slowly. Building the walls up again and making them just as strong as before, was hard. He had to put all the layers in place again. Without accidentally locking someone in. Someone, meaning Sinister, since neither Jean och Xavier could get into his head now. He slowly sat up and was a bit surprised when he felt Logan’s arm around his waist. The feral gently dragged him to the wall so that he could lean against it. He pulled his jacket out and put it behind the cajun’s head. Remy let his head fall back and relaxed as much as he could. 

“Merci.” 

Logan just nodded and lifted his hands. 

“You know what they are made of?” 

Remy shook his head. 

“Non. But I know that Creed got himself caught in chains of the same thing before and I managed to blow them up. But it’s not like I can do anything with this on.” 

He pointed to the collar around his neck. 

“And they aren’t stupid. They know me. They took everything that I could have used as a lockpick to get this thing off.” 

Hank moved a bit closer. He tried to say something but the muffle kept him quiet. Remy pushed himself off of the wall and reached out to him. 

“That thing on the other side, I can fix.” 

Hank, understanding what the cajun meant, turned around. Remy’s hands moved to the clasp and he started to pick the lock with a bobby pin that he had pulled out of Jeans hair. The woman put a hand to her hair. 

“I didn’t even remember that I had it.” 

Remy smirked. 

“It won’t work on the collar but it will work on the muzzle.” 

A few seconds later the lock popped open and the muzzle fell off. Hank dragged a deep breath. 

“Finally. That thing stinks.” 

Logan glanced down to the metal casings on his hands. Remy shook his head. 

“Nothing I can do there. It’s telepathically closed. Just as the ones on Henri. No lock, no key. We’ll need Jeannie or the professor for this. I’m sorry.” 

The feral shrugged. 

“Not your fault Gumbo.” 

He tightened his fists and tried to pull his claws out again. And this time he felt the claws sink a millimeter into the metal. He was surprised but decided to not say anything and just pulled his claws back in only to draw them out again with force. He felt pain shoot through his arms when his claws met the metal. He pulled them in again and took a few calming breaths before he redid the process. Hank looked down to Logan’s hands and raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. Remy leaned back again and closed his eyes. Hank’s attention moved back to him. 

“Are you alright? What did he do?” 

The cajun sighed. 

“He broke my walls.” 

Xavier and Jean exchanged looks. They both knew that getting into his mind was impossible unless he allowed them. Seeing their looks, Remy explained quickly. 

“Sinister is the most powerful telepath I know. Maybe except for the professor. But while the professor would never force his way past my walls since breaking them down would bring me extreme pain, Sinister never stopped because  if that. And I don’t believe the professor would go so far.” 

Xavier shook his head. 

“I would never.” 

Remy just nodded and continued. 

“Sinister on the other side doesn’t hesitate when he wants to get something. Breaking down my walls is the easiest way to get me down. And since there aren’t many that can do that, I’ve never really bothered to pay so much attention to keeping them strengthened.” 

Jean frowned. 

“But if you don’t concentrate on keeping them strong, then how come I never hear anything from your mind?” 

Remy smiled. 

“I don’t have to keep them strengthened for them to be up. I’ve had them since the day I was born. It’s such a part of me that I don’t even have to think about it. Unless the walls get broken and I have to build them back up. When I was here before, I used to simply let them stay broken and let him get in and out as he wanted. My walls then put themselves up as almost paper thin shields. It didn’t hurt that much when he broke those down. But on the other side he could easily get into my mind and mess things up whenever he wanted. I put them up again when I got away. And through time, they strengthened to the point where no one could get into my mind without giving me pain.” 

Jean looked over to Xavier again. Her eyes were questioning and he understood what she was thinking, even without his telepathy. He turned to Remy and asked slowly:

“Is that why you never go against anything that me or Jean say?” 

Remy hesitated but then nodded. He decided that he would be completely honest with them. Especially since they were imprisoned because of him. Because it was all his fault. 


	4. Jean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ!!!  
> 1\. I'm terribly sorry for not updating for so long. Things have been happening and I didn't really have time to write that much. Now, to keep some kind of order to this, I will be updating every friday.  
> 2\. I'm on my way to officially change my name to Morgana. Therefore, my answers to your comments will come under that name.  
> Thank you for sticking around with my story. I love you all.

Slowly, Jean moved over to where Remy was, and sat down next to him.

“Remy?”

He nodded. All the others had decided to try to sleep more, since they didn’t really have anything else to do.

“How come you never told any of us about this?”

The cajun looked at her as if she had grown a second head. Jean just kept his stare. After a long moment, he sighed and turned his head away.

“Would you have understood if I, one day, came to you and said: ‘Hey, Jean. It’s a beautiful day, right? Oh, and by the way, I served Sinister when I was younger. See you later.’ What would you have done?”

Jean frowned while she was thinking. It was a very good question. What would she have done? Her first thought was professor Xavier. She looked back to the cajun.

“I would most probably talk to the professor about it.”

But he just shook his head.

“No, Jeannie. Not what you would have done later on. Not after you had time to think. I mean in the moment. Split second decision. What would your instinct be?”

Once again she frowned. She tried to imagine the situation. Herself, most probably in the kitchen since she loved that place, cooking something. Remy walking in and telling her that he had worked for Sinister before. What would her first reaction be? ‘Fight’. The word appeared in her mind almost instantly and her eyes widened.

“I… I’m sorry but the first thing I could think of was fighting you. I’m sorry Remy.”

But he smiled.

“Non, petite. Don’t be sorry. That’s what I wanted you to understand. I’m not like the others. I’m not trusted like the others. Not a part of the family. I’m just a mutant that is helping you.”

She closed her eyes when she realized that he was right. They have not been treating Remy like a part of their close family, but more like an outsider. Xavier always did his best to be friendly, but it was visible that he was a bit unnerved by the fact that he could not hear one thought from the boy. Ororo had been very friendly but she had still kept her distance from him sometimes. Hank always tried to make some checks on him and that was always pushing Remy away from him. Bobby mostly ignored him since Remy didn’t want to make pranks with him. Rouge had, from the very first day, made sure he knows that she does not trust him and does not want to have too much to do with him. Scott was outright hostile towards the cajun. For some odd reason he never seemed to be able to accept the boy. Logan was the only one who didn’t treat him any different than what he was treating the others. He had accepted the cajun as soon as he first met him. There was never tension between them. Sure, they argued, but it was never anything too serious. Not more than it was with the others. Then Jean thought about herself. About the way she never had felt completely sure about him. About the way she was even a bit scared of him, because she wasn’t able to read his mind. Because he was a blank page. She opened her eyes and looked at him again. He was keeping his sad eyes on her. He smiled softly.

“You see? That’s the reason why I never told anyone. Hank would feel sorry for me, but there would be a distance between us. He would be mistrusting. Rogue and Bobby would most probably just do their best to avoid me even more. The professor would try to ask me out and try to understand. But he would most probably be more wary of me and maybe even think that I was a danger to the students. ‘Ro would never trust me again. She would take it as a personal betrayal. Logan would maybe listen. Actually, he would most probably listen. He maybe even would understand. Logan has always been different. And Scott… I would be lucky if I wasn’t cuffed and thrown into a prison cell immediately after.”

Jean sighed.

“You don’t like Scott, right?”

Remy snorted quietly.

“Like him? Well, he has his good days. But mostly it’s because he doesn’t seem to understand. That others have had it as tough as he. That he isn’t the only one who lost control and hurt innocents.”

Jean tilted her head so that it was resting on Remy’s shoulder. He tensed up for a second but relaxed after that. They sat in silence for a few minutes before she spoke up again.

“Remy?”

He made a quiet sound to show her that he was listening.

“What will happen with us now?”

He sighed.

“I don’t know. The last time I was here, I was still on their side. And, for some reason that I never really understood, Sinister never actually hurt me too much.”

Jean raised her eyebrows.

“What? You said yourself that having your walls broken hurt you.”

Remy nodded slowly.

“Oui. It hurts. It makes me almost want to die. But, as you have heard him say, I was always useless after they were broken. He always left me alone. Even though I was at my weakest then. He never ever continued when I had them broken.”

Jean still didn’t understand.

“But…”

Remy quickly interrupted her.

“You don’t understand. It was never about hurting me. Not in the way you think. It was about establishing who was in charge. Every time he broke my walls, he thought me a lesson. Showed me that he could hurt me. That I was alright only because he allowed me to be. He showed me the consequences of going against him. He showed me my place. But, to be fair, he never really overused it. As long as I stayed in line, he didn’t hurt me.”

Jean frowned.

“And what did staying in line mean?”

He shrugged slightly, making her head raise and fall on his shoulder.

“Not going against him. Making sure that he could get into my head whenever he wanted to. Doing whatever he ordered.”

“So basically, being his slave?”

Remy nodded and they quieted once again. The silence stretched for so long time, that he thought she had fallen asleep. But then she asked with curiosity:

“Why do you think he went easy on you? Before.”

Remy closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall.

“Honestly? I don’t know. He never showed anyone mercy. I don’t know why I am still alive. After the tunnels, I thought he would find me and kill me. But he never showed up. And I never tried to see why he kept away. I figured that the smartest option would be to leave it all behind me and start over. Not that I ever really could start over. Not with the things I have done in the past.”

“Remy…”

He interrupted her.

“No, Jeannie. Don’t say that it wasn’t my fault. I could have done something. I could have informed someone of what I was doing. I never did. All the mutants that died that day… They died because of me. There is no way to get away from that.”

She grabbed his hand.

“No. There is no way you’ll ever forget that. But you didn’t kill them, Remy. You tried to help.”

He slowly closed his eyes.

“Thank you, Jeannie.”

Jean frowned.

“For what?”

“For not hating me. For understanding. It means more to me than you can imagine.”

She smiled.

“You are my friend, Remy. I’ll always be on your side. Whatever happens.”

He nodded. Slowly they fell asleep like that. With her head on his shoulder, holding hands. Scott would be furious. They both knew it. But right now, they both needed the comfort of someone who understood. Of someone they could trust fully. Outside the door, Sinister smirked. Even if this one seemed to trust the cajun, the others were still wary. A few more truths revealed, and the boy would have no other option than to come back to him. Willingly.


	5. It's Worth It

“What’s the meaning of this?!” 

Scott’s angry voice woke everyone up. Logan and Hank got into crouching stances and looked around the entire cell. But Scott wasn’t looking at any threat. He was looking at Jean and Remy. The cajun was wide awake, but Jean was still waking up. They still held hands and the other X-Men realized that that was what made Scott shout. Remy, realizing what was going on, tried to let go of the telepaths hand, but she held him in a firm grip. Her eyes were glaring angrily at the man. 

“Scott.” 

Her voice held a warning, but he didn’t seem to care. 

“What? Last time I checked, you were MY girlfriend.” 

Remy forcefully pulled his hand out of Jean’s grasp. When he spoke to Scott, his voice was cold. 

“Don’t worry, Cyclops. I’m not a  threat here.” 

Then he stood up, walked over to the door and banged on it. A few minutes later, it opened. Sinister walked inside with Scalphunter and Creed after him. Remy took a few steps back, but still made sure that he stood in front of the others. The scientist raised his eyebrows. 

“May I ask what could be so important that you chose to drag me away from my laboratory?” 

Remy took a deep breath. 

“I was wondering if we could get breakfast.” 

The others were shocked by the change in his voice. He sounded insecure and almost a bit scared. And to be honest, he was. With the way he had been acting towards him, he knew that the chances of getting anything from the scientist was slim. But he had to try. Because Jean believed in him. He had to try to help them. Sinister tilted his head a bit. 

“And why would you get it? With the way you have been acting lately, boy, you don’t deserve anything. You should know it, yourself. Going against me, trying to overpower me. Not listening to my orders. What you deserve is a beating.” 

Remy nodded. 

“Fine then. But get the others some breakfast.” 

And then, he lowered his head and looked down at his feet. 

“Please, maitre.” 

Sinister seemed to be shocked but smirked when he noticed the horrified looks on the other’s faces. He concentrated on the cajun in front of him. 

“You say the words, but you don’t mean them. Do what you know you have to do, and maybe I’ll consider your request.” 

Jean opened her mouth to protest, but Remy moved before she managed to do it. He slowly sunk down to his knees and let his hands rest on his lap. Sinister made a thoughtful face. He walked around Remy with slow steps. The boy didn’t even flinch. Logan started to slowly work on the metal casings again. Creed looked over to him and Logan almost cursed out loud. Of course the other feral would hear his attempts. Why hadn’t he thought about it? But, to his surprise, Creed just nodded slightly and then turned his attention back to Remy. Logan was shocked. They had been enemies since a long time back. Why didn’t Creed tell Sinister what was going on? Then he looked over to Remy, who was still completely still on his knees. Sinister had now stopped behind the boy. 

“You haven’t changed a bit from when you were here last time. As soon as you get a small bit of affection from someone, you’ll do anything for them.” 

Remy’s head snapped up, but the only person he saw was Creed, since Scalphunter had moved to the side. The feral grinned and Remy tried to turn around to look at the scientist. But Sinister simply grabbed his hair and pushed his head down again. His fingers moved almost gently over the boy’s neck and Remy shivered slightly. That was where he had the scar from the operation. Sinister’s smile got almost gentle. He removed his hand from Remy’s neck and took a step back. 

“Stand up.” 

Remy obeyed immediately. He knew that he had to follow every order if he wanted to earn them some food. 

“Turn around.” 

He did it and realized what Sinister was doing. This way, he was facing not only Sinister, but also all the X-Men. Jean was shaking her head and looking at him with sorrow. Scott, Bobby and Rogue seemed to be both shocked and a bit distrusting. Hank was baring his teeth but didn’t make any moves to attack. Logan looked concentrated for some reason. Ororo was sad. Xavier was just watching them in silence, his expression calm, but worried. Remy’s eyes flitted past them and focused on Sinister. Using his thief training, he filtered the others out and concentrated on the scientist. Sinister smiled and nodded. 

“You’re doing well. Now, one last thing.” 

Sinister’s smile got nasty and Remy knew what was coming. But even though he knew, there was no way for him to prepare himself for what was coming. One second he was alright, the other his walls were being assaulted. He fell to his knees and looked up at Sinister. The man just kept his eyes on him. The other X-Men watched in horror as Remy started to breathe heavily. A few seconds later, he started to scream. Sinister was taking his time, and it was killing him. He fell to his side and curled up on himself, managing to stop screaming. Small whimpers left his mouth but that was it. After what seemed like ages, but was in fact just a few minutes, it all stopped. Remy lay panting on his side. 

“Up.” 

Jean started to protest but Scott put his hand over her mouth. Sinister glanced back to them with a smirk. 

“Wise move, Mr Summers.” 

Then he turned back to Remy. 

“I said, up.” 

Very slowly, Remy managed to get up to a kneeling position. Almost automatically, he started to build his walls up again. At the same second, the pain returned and he sunk down onto his side again, gasping for air. This time, it took only a few seconds to break through the weak walls. When it stopped, Sinister repeated his previous order. 

“Up.” 

Once again, Remy struggled up to a kneeling position. And once again, he started to automatically build his walls up. The pain appeared as soon as he got into his position. When it stopped, he stayed on his side on the floor. He didn’t have any power left. Sinister sighed. 

“I really don’t like hurting you. But you leave me no choice.” 

Remy turned his head slowly so that he was looking up at the man. He took a deep breath and asked with a weak voice: 

“What do you want?” 

Sinister frowned. 

“Already forgetting your manners, Remy?” 

The boy closed his eyes, but didn’t change his previous question and Sinister seemed to actually accept it. He crouched down next to the boy and said softly: 

“Let go Remy. Let me have access. And I give you my word that you won’t have to worry about them starving. I know you. Once you get loyal to someone, you stay with that person, whatever happens. I know you won’t leave them.” 

Remy felt his mind already trying to build the walls up and forced them to give up. To stay down. It wasn’t easy. After so many years of keeping them up, he had to strain to not put them up. Sinister nodded. 

“Good. I’ll leave you now.” 

He stood up and turned to Scalphunter. 

“Give them food. And make sure that they get three meals per day.” 

Remy’s eyes opened and he slowly sat up. 

“Merci.” 

Sinister smirked. 

“It’s still all up to you. You keep the walls down, they get fed. You put them up, they starve.” 

Then he turned around and marched out, Creed and Scalphunter following him. As soon as the door closed, Jean stood up and ran over to Remy, who had laid down again. Logan was next to him seconds later. 

“What’s going on? Gumbo?” 

Remy shook his head. 

“Wait.” 

He forcefully shattered the walls that tried to put themselves up again and forced them to remain destroyed. Then he slowly sat up. Jean punched his arm. 

“You idiot! What were you thinking? He’ll use this to abuse you.” 

Remy nodded. 

“Oui. He will. But you’ll get food and water. It’s worth it.” 

For a moment they were silent. Then, Jean pulled him into a hug. He groaned, but put his hand around her. When she let go of him, he swayed even though he was sitting down. Logan frowned. 

“What’s going on?” 

Remy sighed. 

“It’s taking quite much to not just put the walls up again. I literally have to smash them down every few minutes.” 

Ororo’s eyes widened. 

“You have to hurt yourself?” 

Remy shrugged. 

“It will get easier after some time. It usually don’t take so long before I get used to something. Especially since I’ve been here before. It’s just a matter of time.” 

Hearing footsteps, Logan quickly grabbed Remy and moved him over to the other X-Men. Seeing how close to the others he was, the cajun shuffled over to his corner and closed his eyes, breaking the walls again. It wasn’t as hard this time. He had not been lying before. He would get used to it. The door opened and Scalphunter walked inside with Arclight and Creed. They put three full trays on the floor and left, after the woman threw a worried glance towards Remy. Then the door closed and they heard the lock click. Remy saw how they hesitated and smiled softly. 

“It’s alright. He wouldn’t poison you. Not when he’s getting what he wants.” 

Slowly, Bobby moved forward and grabbed one of the sandwitches. One after one, the rest of them joined him. Everyone but Remy. He closed his eyes again and tried to relax. This would not be easy. 


	6. Fever

Jean, still slightly mad at Scott for his outburst, grabbed some food and moved over to Remy’s corner. She stretched one of the sandwitches out to him and said with a soft voice: 

“Here. You should eat too.” 

But the cajun just shook his head. 

“Non. Merci, mais non.” 

Some of them frowned. Even though Remy often used cajun words in his speech, they had never heard him say something entirely in cajun. 

“Remy. Please.” 

“Non!” 

He pushed her away forcefully and his eyes widened with fear when he realized what he had done. At the same moment he felt Sinister enter his mind. He grabbed his head and started to shake violently. Logan was next to him in seconds but, before he managed to do anything, the door opened and Victor Creed ran inside. He pushed Logan out of the way and kneeled down next to the cajun. 

“Runt. Remy.” 

But he didn’t react. The feral grabbed his shoulders. 

“Remy! You have to calm down. With your emotions locked up inside you, you’ll do damage to yourself.” 

But Remy didn’t seem to listen. He knew that what was happening was bad for him. Whenever he got a strong emotion before, he would just project it out to the world. He always made sure to split it up to so many people, that they barely felt that something was different. Now, with the collar on, he couldn’t project his emotions. He felt them collect inside him but couldn’t do anything. And with Sinister in his mind, it was worse than ever. Creed growled. 

“Oh, come on, LeBeau! Get a grip!” 

His nails dug into Remy’s shoulders and the boy’s head snapped up. Realizing what was going on, Creed smirked. 

“You still remember that, don’t you?” 

He gripped him harder and felt how his nails sunk into flesh. The boy started to struggle and Logan was ready to jump onto Creed, when Hank held him back. The doctor shook his head and kept his eyes on the boy. Meanwhile, Remy had turned his eyes to Creed. He was still shaking but the pain helped him clear his head. It was somehow easier. His walls stayed down and he felt the fear disappear. He had never really been afraid of the feral. His red eyes met Creed’s yellow and he felt calm. He didn’t know why. But the feral always managed to calm him down. Maybe because Remy knew that he was more or less defenseless against the feral. It had proved once already. If Creed had wanted him dead, he would be dead long ago. That was when he realized something. Creed had left the door open. And Rogue was slowly moving towards it. But it seemed that the feral had suddenly realized that too. He turned his head towards the girl and showed his teeth. 

“You make one more move, and I’ll rip your heart out.” 

She seemed to want to keep going, but Remy’s next words stopped her. 

“Rogue. Don’t. He’ll do it.” 

His voice was full of pain and Creed squeezed his shoulders for a second before he finally pulled his claws out of the cajun’s flesh. Remy winced, but they all noticed that his eyes had cleared and he had a calm face expression. 

“Merci, Victor.” 

The feral just nodded and quickly walked outside, locking the door behind him. Hank slowly approached Remy. 

“Remy?” 

The cajun shrugged, which seemed to be a mistake. Pain shot through his entire body and he stilled again. Jean slowly went closer to him, ignoring Scott’s attempts to stop her. 

“Remy. Please. Let me look at it.” 

He just stared at her for a moment. Then he remembered last night. Her hand in his. Her soft words. And he nodded. Jean quickly sat down next to him and gently helped him take the coat and shirt off. Creed’s nails had left wounds but it seemed that he had missed any important veins. Ororo grabbed one of the glasses full of water and a napkin that was on the tray. She quickly moved over to the two mutants in the corner. Jean smiled thankfully towards her and started to clean the wounds. Then she used the rest of the napkins to make bandages. It wasn’t very pretty but it was all she could do at the moment. She helped him back into the shirt and coat and he let his head fall back against the wall. He was asleep in seconds. Jean sighed and turned back to the others. Logan looked at her with concern. 

“How is he?” 

The telepath shrugged slowly. 

“As long as the wounds don’t get infected, he will be alright. He’s always been a quick healer.” 

But Logan just shook his head. 

“He uses his mutation to speed his healing up. With the collar on, he won’t be able to do anything to speed it up.” 

The others were silent. Remy slept through the rest of the day, waking up only when Jean gave him water to drink. The others, although still having mixed feelings about the cajun, kept quiet so that he could get some peace. Even the most stubborn of them realized what the boy was sacrificing to get them food. As promised, the three Marauders brought them food and drink two more times, before they announced that it was night and that the next food would arrive in the morning. Jean grabbed one of the glasses and walked over to Remy. She put her hand on his forehead and gasped. The others turned to her in alarm. 

“He’s burning up.” 

Remy was still sitting up but, as they all suddenly realized, only the fact that he was in the corner and was supported by two walls, kept him upright. He was sweating and chills seemed to go through his body now and then. Logan cursed himself for not realizing that the boy had been ill, but he understood that it had been caused by his concentration on cutting through the metal. Jean gently grabbed Remy’s arms and shook him. His eyes opened slightly and he looked at Jean as if he didn’t recognize her. She slowly brought the glass up to his lips and tipped it gently. He took a sip before he turned his head away from her and his eyes slipped shut again. 

“Scott. Help me out here.” 

The man hesitated, but then moved quickly to her side and helped her put the cajun in a lying position. He remembered the pain in his eyes when he spoke about how he couldn’t control his powers before and realized that, if he hadn’t found Xavier, he would most probably have ended up with Sinister, just like Remy had. Jean moved the fabric from his shoulder away and they all stared in horror at the angry red wounds. Pus had already gathered in them. Their fears had been confirmed. An infection was spreading through Remy’s body. And it was spreading quickly. Jean saw a bandana that had partially slipped out of one of Remy’s pockets, took it and dipped it in one of the glasses. She waited until it was completely soaked, before wringing it out and placing it gently on Remy’s forehead. He didn’t even react. The night was hard. Jean sat by Remy’s side, wetting the bandana whenever it got warmer. Around midnight, Ororo stood up and walked over to the red head. 

“Jean. Go to sleep. I’ll keep an eye on him.” 

The telepath hesitated, but nodded when she felt how exhausted she really was. Two hours later, Logan changed with Ororo. Around four o'clock in the morning, Bobby woke up and went over to Logan. The feral looked up at him and frowned. Bobby sat down next to him and glanced over to the cajun. He looked a bit sad when he turned back to Logan. 

“I wish I could help him. Without the collar I could cool him down in seconds.” 

Logan’s glare softened. 

“I know, kid. You have your heart in the right place. But if you think that this is hard, think about how it is for Gumbo. He’s not only powerless, but also unprotected from mind attacks and now wounded.” 

After a few minutes, Bobby sighed and went back to sleeping next to Rogue. Ten minutes later, Scott woke up. He walked over to Logan, who was cooling the bandana in the water glass, and sat down next to him. Logan put the wet bandana on Remy’s forehead and turned to the other man. Scott kept his eyes on Remy’s pale face when he said quietly: 

“He’s stronger than any of us ever thought.” 

Logan frowned. 

“How do you mean? You thought he would just give up to Sinister?” 

Scott shook his head. 

“No. Not like that. I meant that they brought the food even after he went to sleep. After Sabretooth did that to him. Which means that he’s still keeping his walls down. Even now. Even in this state.” 

The feral nodded. 

“Yeah. He’s strong. But I wonder for how long.” 

Cyclops turned his face to the other man. 

“What do you think will happen when Sinister comes back here?” 

Logan shrugged. 

“Don’t know. But I doubt that he will hurt the boy further. There is something going on. With the two of them. I just can’t put my finger on it.” 

They sat in silence for a long moment. Then, Scott sighed and pointed towards where the others were sleeping. 

“Go to sleep, Logan. I’ll keep an eye on him.” 

The feral hesitated. Scott noticed that and smiled. 

“It’s alright. I was a bit too harsh to him before. I just didn’t want to risk the other’s lifes. But it’s not like I will attack him.” 

After a long moment of staring, Logan nodded and went over to where the others were sleeping. He sat down against the wall and was sleeping a few seconds later. Scott moved to the place that Logan had abandoned. He sighed again and turned his head to watch Remy. The rest of the night passed quietly. Once Jean woke up, she rushed over to Remy’s side. She smiled softly when she noticed Scott sitting guard next to the wounded mutant, but her smile disappeared when she touched Remy’s forehead. 

“He’s getting worse. Scott, Logan, take his coat and shirt off.” 

The two men quickly complied. Even Rogue felt ill when she saw the wounds. They looked horrible. Xavier opened his mouth to say something, when the door opened and Sinister walked inside with Scalphunter and Arclight behind him. The smirk on his face disappeared when he saw Remy. Quickly he walked over to him and got down on his knees next to his head. To everyone’s surprise, his eyes were wide open. Almost as if he was scared. But his expression changed to one full of anger when he noticed the wounds. He turned back to the two Marauders and almost growled out: 

“Get Creed to one of the cells. Lock him up. Make sure he can’t get out. You there.” 

He turned to Logan. 

“Pick him up and follow me. But be careful. One wrong move, and I’ll kill you.” 

Logan nodded and gently lifted Remy up into his arms. Quickly, Jean stood up. 

“Can I come with you?” 

Sinister stopped for a second. He glanced down to the glasses of water and then to the wet bandana on Remy’s forehead. Then he turned back to Jean. 

“This was your idea?” 

She nodded. The man took a deep breath. 

“Alright. You can come with us. But the rules are the same for you. One wrong move, and I’ll kill you.” 

And he marched out. Logan followed quickly. Jean smiled towards the others and then followed them. Vertigo, who had gotten downstairs at that moment, closed the door to the cell and locked it. Meanwhile, Sinister led the way to the medical room. There was no way he would let the boy die. Not his boy. 


	7. Like A Cat

Logan was looking around, keeping his eyes on everything. Sinister was leading them through a literal maze. Jean on the other side, wasn’t paying attention to what was happening. She just kept her eyes on Remy. He was whimpering in his sleep. Sinister opened a door and they followed him into a big medical room. There was an operation table standing in full view from the ordinary beds. The man pointed at one of the beds and Logan gently put Remy on it. Jean sat down next to the bed and put her hand on the cajun’s forehead. Then, she quickly pulled it back. 

“He’s burning up again.” 

Sinister hurried over to them. He gently put a thermometer in Remy’s ear. He pulled it out when it beeped and looked at it. His eyes widened once again. 

“105.2.” 

He turned to Jean.

“There is an IV, over on that shelf. Get it over here and hook him up. It will keep him hydrated. You.” 

He pointed at Logan. 

“There is a bathroom over there. Fill the bathtub with ice cold water and put towels in it. I don’t dare to put him in the water. Too much of a shock.” 

Then he turned away and started to look through the shelves on one of the walls. Jean nodded towards Logan. The feral took a deep breath and walked out to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Jean carefully opened Remy’s shirt but, without her powers, she couldn’t move him to get it off. She glanced over to Sinister. He, most probably noticing that, walked over to them and lifted the boy up. Jean quickly slipped his shirt off and paled when she noticed how bad the wounds looked. Sinister frowned. 

“I’m going to kill him.” 

She looked up to his face but understood that he was talking about Creed and not Remy. Something in the way he was watching the boy made her think. But then she shook her thoughts away. Remy was more important. She nodded and Sinister put the boy back on the bed and walked back to a table. Jean noticed that he had prepared bandages, a syringe and a few bottles with what seemed to be pills. Then he walked back to the bed and watched as Jean set up the IV. But he stopped her before she could put the needle in his arm. 

“Wait with it for a moment. Get his pants and boots off. We need to cool him down.” 

Then he pulled Remy up into his arms and lifted him up. Quickly, Jean stripped Remy down to his underwear and Sinister put him back on the bed. Just then, Logan came back in. His arms were full of wet towels. 

“I left some of them in the water for now.” 

Jean, getting her courage up, started to talk. 

“Good. Put one of them behind his neck. One on each arm and one on each leg. Then one of his chest but be extremely careful with that one. We don’t want him to get shock from the cold. And put one of the smaller ones on his forehead.” 

Sinister looked at her with raised eyebrows. That woman was certainly something different. But, as long as she wanted to help Remy, she was on his good list. He nodded and Logan started to quickly put the towels where Jean had told him. Meanwhile, the woman finally put the needle in Remy’s arm, and hooked it up to the IV. Sinister walked back to them and put his hand on the side of Remy’s face. He seemed to concentrate and then, all of the sudden, Remy’s eyes opened. He looked almost as if he didn’t know where he was or what was happening. Sinister gently stroked his hair. 

“Remy. I need you to take some pills.” 

For a moment, it looked as if he wanted to argue. But then he sighed and moved his head a few centimeters up and then back to the original position. Sinister took out a small flask, where Jean noticed four different kinds of pills. He pulled all four out and tapped Remy’s face. The cajun opened his mouth and Sinister put the pills in. Then he gently propped Remy up a bit and put a glass of water to his lips. He tipped it and Remy almost choked. But he managed to swallow the pills and a few sips of the water, before his eyes slipped shut and his head fell to the side, where it rested on Sinister’s shoulder. The man sighed and put the boy back onto the pillow. Then he turned to the wounds. He felt fury inside him but pushed it down. He would deal with Creed later. Gently, he started to clean the wounds. Then he put compresses on it and bandaged it up. Almost automatically, he stroked Remy’s long hair, before he turned to Jean. 

“There is a thermometer over there. Check his temperature in half an hour. If it hasn’t started to go down by then, we’ll have to take to some more drastic measures. Keep the towels cool. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I need to take care of a certain feral.” 

Logan and Jean exchanged a glance, but none of them spoke up. Then, Sinister looked down at Logan’s hands and waved his hand. The metal casings fell off. He marched over to him and pulled his collar off. The feral looked up at him with a frown. Sinister just stared at him. 

“You care about Remy. If anyone other than me tries to get close to him, do whatever you want with them.” 

Logan took a step towards him. 

“And what if I try to escape?” 

Sinister just pointed to Remy. 

“You won’t. Not with him in that state.” 

And he left. Logan sat down on the chair across from Jean. The woman was keeping her eyes on Remy’s face. 

“Do you think he’ll be alright?” 

Logan nodded. 

“He’s tough. He’ll live. He always lives. Like a cat. Nine lives and all that.” 

“He’s pretty much used up all of them.” 

Logan spun around towards the door, his claws out. Scalphunter put his hands up. 

“Calm down, Wolverine. I’m not here to fight you.” 

He grabbed a chair and sat down right next to the door. Logan frowned, but then nodded and sat down again. 

“How is he?” 

Jean took a deep breath. 

“He’s burning up. Sinister gave him some medicine. I’m not sure what it was but I hope it will help.” 

The man nodded. 

“It will. Remy’s been here before. Mister Sinister knows what works with his body and mutation. He’ll be alright.” 

They sat in silence for the next half an hour. Then, Jean grabbed the thermometer and gently put it in Remy’s ear. It beeped, and she pulled it out. The two men in the room kept their eyes on her. 

“104.8. It’s falling.” 

Logan breathed out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Scalphunter visibly relaxed. Another ten minutes passed before Sinister marched back inside. He waved his hand and the Marauder left quickly. Then he turned to the two X-Men. 

“And?” 

Jean pointed to the thermometer. 

“I checked the fever around ten minutes ago. 104.8.” 

The man nodded. 

“Good. Change the towels.” 

Then he grabbed another bottle of pills. Jean noticed that those pills were different from the ones he had the time before. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his hand on the side of Remy’s face. And, just like the previous time, Remy’s eyes opened almost immediately. His head rolled from side to side, but Sinister quickly put an arm around his shoulders and helped him into a half sitting position. Then he held up two of the pills. Remy, almost as if he was realizing who was holding him, opened his mouth and tried to say something. But Sinister just put the pills in his mouth and closed it forcefully. 

“I can give you water, or you’ll have to swallow them dry. Your choice.” 

Jean and Logan watched as Remy’s red eyes darted around the room, but he didn’t seem to recognize them. He didn’t even seem to see them. Then his entire body relaxed and he leaned more heavily against Sinister’s side. The scientist grabbed a glass of water and put it up to Remy’s lips. The cajun opened his mouth slightly and took a few sips. Then, he took a deep breath. 

“ Ça fait froid.”  _ (It’s cold.) _

Sinister frowned, but then nodded slowly. 

“I know. You’ll be alright. Is there anything you want?” 

Remy’s eyes almost slipped shut, but he seemed to force himself to keep them open. He opened his mouth but it seemed that he couldn’t say anything else. Sinister sighed as he gently lowered the boy onto the pillow. 

“Sleep.” 

Then he turned around and headed towards the big table on the other side of the room. Well there, he glanced back towards Remy, and Jean almost gasped. The way his red eyes looked reminded her of Remy’s eyes. And suddenly, she understood. Why Sinister had gone easy on Remy. Why he seemed to be so worried about the boy. She glanced over to Logan, but he hadn’t noticed anything. When she turned back to Sinister, she was met with his stare. And she understood one more thing. He knew that she knew. 


	8. Isn't It Obvious?

The next hour went calmly. Remy was still sleeping, but his fever had gotten down to 101.9. Jean was shocked about how fast that had happened. Whatever Sinister had given him, was working quickly. The man himself, had not left the room. He was working on something at the table, and acted as if he didn’t pay any attention to the other three people in the room, but Jean noticed how he kept glancing towards Remy. Logan was mostly sitting and looking out through the window. Then, Remy suddenly woke up. His eyes snapped open and he tried to sit up. Sinister was next to him in seconds. He quickly put a hand on his shoulder and held him down. 

“Stay down.” 

But the boy just looked around with wide eyes and started to struggle. Sinister had to lean over him to keep him down. Jean quickly stood up and walked over to them. 

“Remy. Remy, please. Calm down.” 

His head turned to her and then he shook his head frantically. One of his hands came up and started to claw at the collar around his neck. Sinister sighed, grabbed Remy’s chin and forced him to look him straight into his red eyes. The boy froze, almost as if he was first now realizing who was holding him down. 

“Quoi?” _ (What?) _

Sinister frowned. 

“Not again.” 

Then he turned his head towards Logan and Jean. 

“Does any of you know that Yat he’s speaking?” 

Logan raised his eyebrows at Sinister’s tired voice. Then he shook his head slightly. 

“It’s not Yat. It’s Cajun.” 

The scientist shot him a dangerous glare and Logan quickly put his hands in the air. 

“Alright, alright. I’m not an expert but I have been down there a few times and I’ve picked up some words.” 

He moved closer to the bed. 

“Remy. Assez.”  _ (Enough.) _

The cajun’s head snapped towards Logan. Sinister slowly let go of him, but Remy didn’t move. He opened his mouth but his voice seemed to fail at that moment and violent shivers went through his body. Sinister helped him sit up and put a glass of water to his lips. 

“Drink.” 

Remy glanced at him and tried to shake his head but Sinister just frowned down at him and he quickly took a sip. It seemed to help him a bit, because he sighed and whispered: 

“Merci.” 

Sinister nodded and let him fall back onto the pillow. Jean moved a bit closer to the bed. 

“How are you feeling?” 

But Remy didn’t answer. His eyes were following Sinister, as the man walked over to the table and picked up the thermometer. He went back to the bed and moved Remy’s hair out of the way. The boy tried to move away but another look from Sinister stopped him. He let the man put the thermometer in his ear and waited. Then, it beeped and Sinister pulled it out. 

“102.3.” 

Jean frowned. It was going up again. Sinister grabbed a small bottle and shook out two pills. Remy’s eyes widened slightly but, before he managed to protest, Sinister started to talk. 

“You have two options here. One. You take the pills yourself and I let them  work as they should. Or two. You refuse, I pump you full of sedatives and pretty much reduce you to a comatose state. At least handling you will be a bit easier then. And you know that I will do it.” 

Remy seemed to think it through. Then he opened his mouth, but not to answer. He let loose a string of curses in french, before he put his hand out. Sinister put the pills in his hand and, once again, helped him sit up. Remy put the pills in his mouth and swallowed them dry, before Sinister managed to lift the glass. The man looked at him with annoyance but didn’t comment on it. He just let go of the boy and he fell back onto the pillow, wincing when it made his wounded shoulders move. Jean sat down on the edge of the bed and repeated her previous question. 

“How are you feeling?” 

Remy sighed. His eyelids were already feeling heavy and he understood that, whatever it was that Sinister had given him, was stronger than any other medicine he had ever been given in this place. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t find the right word in english which worried him. Sure, he never held back on the cajun talk, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t speak clean english. He used more english than french these days. But right in that moment he couldn’t remember anything. So, seeing that Jean was still waiting, he answered in his native language. 

“Crasseux.”  _ (Filthy.) _

Logan’s eyes widened. 

“Pourquoi?”  _ (Why?) _

But Remy didn’t manage to answer. His eyes closed and he fell asleep. Both Sinister and Jean were looking at Logan. The feral frowned. 

“Why does he speak cajun french suddenly? He never uses it that often.” 

Sinister put down the bottle he was holding and went back to them. 

“It happened the last time he had fever too. It messes him up and he seems to forget english. I’m still not sure how it works. The last time it happened, we had to use Creed as a translator until he got well again. What did he answer to Miss Grey’s question?” 

Logan hesitated. 

“He… He said filthy. Just that one word. Filthy.” 

Jean looked shocked while Sinister just nodded. 

“That's understandable. He hates this place.” 

He was going to say something more but the door opening stopped him. Vertigo stepped inside and her face paled when she noticed Remy. Sinister glanced back to the bed and rolled his eyes. 

“You can stay here with them. I’ll go down to Creed. He should have woken up by now.” 

And he left. Vertigo glanced over to Logan’s drawn claws. She smiled gently and slowly walked over to the bed, making sure to stay on Jean’s side of it. 

“How is he? What happened? I just saw you all going behind Mister Sinister and then he tortured Victor down in the cell.” 

Since Logan was still glaring at her, Jean decided to answer. 

“Remy started to freak out in the cell we were put in and Creed came in to seemingly calm him down. But then he put his claws in Remy’s shoulders. Then he left and Remy’s wounds got infected. He had fever and infection. Sinister came in and told Logan to carry Remy here. I asked if I could follow them and he agreed.” 

“But he’s better?” 

There was real concern in her voice and Logan slowly pulled his claws back before he answered. 

“Yeah. His fever has lowered.” 

Then he frowned and leaned a bit towards the woman. 

“Do you know why Sinister cares so much about him?” 

Vertigo hesitated. 

“I… I’m not sure. I have my suspicions, but I don’t actually have any facts.” 

Logan leaned forward a bit more. 

“Come on. Just tell us.” 

She sighed. 

“Just… How big chance is there that two mutants meet and look so much alike? And have red eyes.” 

Jean looked at her for a long moment before she nodded. 

“I had the exactly same thoughts. And the protectiveness towards Remy.” 

Logan looked between them with confusion. 

“Am I the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on?” 

Vertigo rolled her eyes. 

“Isn’t it obvious? We suspect that Remy is Mister Sinister’s son.” 

The feral’s eyes widened. At the same second Remy started to trash around. The three mutants exchanged looks. None of them knew what to do. Then, Vertigo snapped out of it and ran over to the door. 

“Greycrow!” 

Scalphunter ran over to her and looked inside. 

“Get Mister Sinister!” 

He nodded and ran away. Meanwhile, Logan grabbed Remy’s shoulders and held onto him to make sure that he wouldn’t fall off the bed. Five minutes later, Sinister rushed inside, with Scalphunter and Arclight behind him. He quickly pushed Logan out of the way and put his hand on Remy’s face. The cajun’s eyes snapped open and he gasped. 

“Non.” 

Sinister left his hand on the side of his face and kept eye contact with him. 

“Remy. Calm down. You’re panicking. It’s alright. It was just a nightmare. You’re alright.” 

Vertigo and Jean exchanged a look. Suddenly, before anyone could say anything, Remy punched Sinister. The man took a step back in shock and the boy rolled off the bed. Jean noticed in his eyes that he still had high fever and guessed that he didn’t really understand what was going on. Sinister took a step towards him and Remy quickly backed away. Jean closed her eyes. This was not good. She opened her eyes in time to see Remy pull the needle out from his arm. He looked both scared and angry at the same time. Then, Vertigo suddenly walked forwards with her hands in the air. 

“Remy. Sweetheart. Please, calm down.” 

Her voice was calm and Jean quickly caught onto what the other woman was doing. She made a movement to keep Logan in his place. He nodded and she took a few steps towards the cajun. 

“Darling. Come on. Just calm down. You have fever. You need to rest.” 

She stretched her hand out to him. He hesitated for a moment, before he grabbed her hand. Both Jean and Vertigo smiled. Meanwhile, Scalphunter and Arclight had slipped out from the room. Sinister took a few steps back to give the two women more space. Gently they guided Remy back to the bed and helped him lay down. After glancing at his face, the telepath gently put a new needle on the IV and attached it to Remy’s arm. Vertigo grabbed one of Remy’s hands while Jean stroked his hair until his eyes slipped close and he fell asleep again. Then she turned to Vertigo and smiled. 

“Good job.” 

The woman smiled back. 

“Good job yourself. For an X-Man.” 

Logan snorted but didn’t say anything. Sinister just looked between the two women before he turned away from them and left. 


	9. Brother

Scott was a mess. Jean, Logan and Remy had been gone for a few hours now. They had all heard Creed’s screams earlier and, if it wasn’t for the man injuring Remy, they would feel bad for him. The second time they heard Sinister come down, it was very briefly. Then they heard Scalphunter’s, almost scared, voice and they both ran off. Rogue and Bobby were in one of the corners, talking quietly. Ororo was sitting with her face in Hank’s fur. She had been crying ever since the other three X-Men had disappeared and, in the end, she cried herself to sleep. Hank was sitting completely still, trying to not wake her up. Xavier was sitting against the wall, his eyes closed, and it was a bit unclear whether he was asleep or not. Scott was just staring at the door. Then, suddenly, he heard footsteps coming towards their cell. All the others seemed to notice that too because they all turned towards the door. Xavier’s eyes opened and even Ororo woke up. The door opened and Sinister marched inside. Before anyone managed to say anything, the scientist fixed his stare on Scott and said slowly: 

“Katherine Summers.” 

Scott froze. 

“Wha… What are you talking about?” 

Sinister smirked and closed the door behind him. 

“There are some things about your mother you don’t really know, Mr Summers. And some things that you need to find out about.” 

It wasn’t a question and Scott understood that he would have no choice but to listen. And, after hearing Creed’s screams, he didn’t really want to say too much against the man. 

“When you were four, your parents went to Louisiana with you and your brother.” 

Scott frowned. He didn’t remember that. 

“There, your mother got caught up with the wrong crowd. She met a young man with red eyes and she fell for him. Stupid little girl.” 

He wanted to protest but Sinister just continued. 

“She talked her husband into staying in New Orleans and started an affair with the young man. And, one day, she got the shock of her life. She was pregnant. And she knew that it wasn’t her husband’s child. But she managed to convince him that it was his and that it would be best if they stayed in New Orleans until the child was born. And all the time, she kept meeting the young man. Then, she gave birth to a boy. A boy with black and red eyes. And she knew that there was no way she would be able to convince her husband that it was his child. So she consulted the young man and he told her to give the boy to him. She agreed but, because of the hospital regulations, she and the child had to stay in the hospital for the night. That night, some human traffickers saw the boy and decided that they could get good money for him. So they kidnapped him and tried to sell him, but some thieves stole him from them. They tried to raise him, but his eyes always made them nervous. So, when he was just three, they kicked him out from their house. From that day on, the child had to take care of himself. Your brother.” 

Scott was staring at Sinister with disbelief. The man looked very serious. Ororo moved a bit closer to her friend, but Scott just moved away from her and stood up. 

“No. You’re lying. I don’t remember ever being in New Orleans.” 

The scientist nodded. 

“It’s not surprising that you don’t remember anything. Both your and your brother’s memories were altered after the entire incident. Your mother wanted to make sure that none of you found out about it. The boy was taken in by Jean-Luc LeBeau and the Thieves Guild. I think you know the rest of that story.” 

Scott was staring at him. 

“You mean…” 

“Yes. Remy is your brother. Half brother, to be exact.” 

The other X-Men were just as shocked as Scott. The man took a deep breath and asked slowly: 

“Why are you telling me this?” 

Sinister smiled. 

“Because, Remy is a person who always gives his all. Who is loyal to death, if you get him to trust you. And family is something that means the world to him. Most probably because of him being an orphan until Jean-Luc took him in. So what do you think he’ll do when he finds out who his real father is.” 

Rogue was the first one to understand what he meant. 

“You’re his father. You’re the red eyed man that Scott’s mother had an affair with.” 

Sinister nodded. 

“Yes. I am that man. And I plan to get my son back.” 

Hank frowned. 

“But why are you telling us all this, Mr Essex?” 

The man’s red eyes looked to the blue feral. 

“Because, I won’t tell him the entire story. Remy is easy to manipulate. And, when he’s beating you up, I want you to know that it’s your own brother doing that.” 

“Remy will never do it. He will not work for you again.” 

Ororo sounded more pissed off than she ever had before. But Sinister just laughed. 

“Trust me when I say that he will.” 

Then he turned away from them and walked out. A few silent minutes later, the door opened again and Scalphunter walked inside. He turned to Arclight, who was standing outside the door, and said quietly: 

“Keep an eye on everything.” 

She nodded and closed the door. The man turned to the X-Men. 

“Listen now. Listen carefully. In two hours, Scrambler will come in here with food. If one of you stands right next to the door, you should be able to knock him out. He’ll be carrying the key to your collars in his pocket. But you’ll have to move quickly after that. Mister Sinister is checking our minds almost all the time. Right now I know we can talk, since he is in the medical room with Remy. And that means that his entire concentration will be on him. When you get out of this cell, go down the corridor on the right and up the stairs at the end of it. Then, take the second corridor to the right. You’ll end up on the first floor. Then there will be a black door with a white circle on. It leads straight up to the roof. Your plane is up there. As long as you keep to the path that I just told you, no one will catch you. Scrambler will be the only person down here, and that path up to the roof is not used anymore. So no one will be there. You got it all?” 

Scott leaned a bit towards him. 

“And what about Jean, Logan and Remy?” 

The Marauder sighed heavily. 

“They’ll have to stay here for now.” 

Ororo shot to her feet. 

“I’m not leaving them here!” 

Scalphunter quickly looked towards the door. 

“Keep quiet. If someone hears us, there will be no way for any of you to get out.” 

Suddenly, Xavier spoke up. 

“Scott. Ororo. He’s right. If what Mister Sinister said is really true, then Remy is safe here for now. And we have to remember that Remy has been here before. He knows how to deal with this place.” 

Hank nodded. 

“However I hate to leave them here, professor is right. There is no way for us to take down this place in the state we’re in now. We need backup. Remy, Jean and Logan will be alright.” 

Slowly, Scott nodded. He understood that they needed help. 

“Alright. Just one question. Why are you doing this?” 

Scalphunter sighed and looked suddenly very tired. 

“Because Remy is right. There are other places. Not exactly for me or the others. But for him. He got out. He’s not like the rest of us. He’s a good person. Out of all of us, he is the one who deserves a new life. He doesn’t belong here. Once you get out of here and get backup, hit this place. And hit it hard. Don’t leave a stone standing. Capture the Marauders. Kill Sinister if you have to.” 

Bobby moved closer to him. 

“But what about you? And Arclight. You’re helping us, afterall.” 

The man shrugged. 

“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.” 

Xavier shifted a bit. 

“You could come with us.” 

The Marauder just laughed and walked outside. The others just sat there, thinking. Scott’s thoughts flew to his brother. Alex would be as shocked as he had been when he found out. But they would get Remy out of there. After all, their lives could have been just like his, if they hadn’t met Xavier. They would get him out of there. And they would give him a new life. He deserved it. 


	10. Remiel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being a bit late. Had a rough couple of days. The next update will be on Friday.

Vertigo and Jean were sitting in silence, just looking at Remy. Logan had left to change the water in the bathtub. The telepath was thinking it all through. Could it be possible? Could Remy really be Sinister’s son? She thought back to what Remy had said about his childhood and realized that, the earliest memory he told them about was from some time after Jean-Luc had adopted him. And before they got caught, he never talked about his past unless he was mentioning either Jean-Luc, Henri or Tante Mattie. It was something that she never thought about before. Actually, now that she was thinking about it, none of them had ever taken the time to sit down with the cajun to just talk. She glanced over to Vertigo. The woman was doing her best to keep her face emotionless, but her eyes said everything she didn’t want to express. She was worried and anxious. Every time Remy moved, her left hand twitched. Then, Logan came back into the room and looked at Remy. 

“Anything new?” 

Jean shook her head and Logan sat down next to her. 

“The thing you were talking about. About Remy being Sinister’s son. Do you really believe it?” 

Finally, Vertigo looked up and turned her face to them. 

“Do you see any other options? You see what he’s doing with Creed now. And this isn’t the first time Victor wounded one of the Marauders. He almost ripped off Scalphunters head once. He broke my both legs. He stabbed Scrambler a few times. But Mister Sinister never did anything to him. But when he heard Victor bragging about stopping Remy in those tunnels, he was furious. Only the fact that Arclight had seen Remy leave the tunnels alive, made him spare Victor’s life. And now, Remy gets hurt and Victor is in the dungeons, being tortured.” 

Logan shrugged. 

“That doesn’t really prove anything. He could just see Remy as someone he wants at his side. Just a strong mutant. It doesn’t have to be anything other than that. He wants to break him himself, and therefore is furious with anyone who tries to hurt him.” 

Vertigo shook her head. 

“No. That’s not how it works around here. Trust me, Wolverine, if Mister Sinister wanted to break Remy, he would have him following him blindly already. He could make sure that Remy had no other choice. Remy’s a social person. He craves human touch. He’s an empath after all. When he was here, he often went out to dance in those crowded clubs. He came back so high on emotions that he actually slept for over 12 hours straight. Sinister was always furious after that. But Remy needed it. We noticed it pretty early on. He got comfortable with us, after he noticed that we wouldn’t hurt him. He got close to us. He would always touch shoulders with John when we were playing cards. He would often curl up in front of the TV with me and Ari. Even Victor knew about it and knew when Remy needed the physical contact. I don’t think you realize how easy it would be to manipulate Remy. At least back then. Now he seems to be a bit more careful with the people he lets close to him.” 

Both Logan and Jean were thinking about how it was at the mansion. And both of them realized how Remy had actually showed hints of his need for human touch. There were times when they were watching movies and he would, almost subconsciously, sit down right next to either Jean or Ororo. In the first case, Scott would always protest loudly. In the other case, Logan would get extremely jealous and irritated. He never said anything but now, knowing that the boy was an empath, he understood that it was the reason why Remy always quickly moved away and looked almost guilty. There were times when he would move closer to them when they were playing card. He sometimes threw his arm around Rogue, only to have to flee when she tried to punch him. He had sought physical contact with them on more than one occasion. But he had always been denied it. Then, Logan thought back to when Scalphunter had simply started up a conversation as soon as Sinister had left. How he promised that they would get some cards to play. Then Vertigo had came in and he remembered how surprised he had been when Remy just let her touch him. And he started to wonder how long time had passed by then since he had been touched in such a gentle way by anyone. He looked down at the sleeping boy and jerked when he noticed black and red eyes staring at him. 

“Remy?” 

The two females quickly turned to him. He smiled softly. 

“Remy’s not dead yet.” 

Jean quickly moved to where the thermometer was but Remy quickly put one of his hands up. 

“Non, Jeannie. I’m better now. I promise.” 

Before she managed to answer, the door opened and Sinister marched inside. He looked at Remy and smirked. 

“I thought that I heard some thought from you.” 

He walked over to the table, grabbed the thermometer and turned back to Remy. The cajun opened his mouth, but a sharp stare from the scientist silenced him. He let the man check his temperature. Sinister looked at the thermometer and nodded. 

“99.1. I think the worst has passed.” 

Then he reached out towards the bandages, but Remy quickly moved away from him and jumped off the bed, pulling the needle out at the same time. 

“Don’t touch me.” 

Sinister frowned. 

“Get back to bed, Remy.” 

The  cajun shook his head. 

“Non. Remy’s not going back to that life. I’m not going to be your puppet or lab rat. I’m not going to simply follow you anymore. You have no right to do this. You…” 

While he kept ranting, Sinister looked more and more irritated. In the end, he simply slammed his hand down on the table that was closest and said, with a raised voice: 

“Remiel!” 

Everyone froze. Remy tilted his head. 

“What did you call me?” 

Sinister sighed. 

“This is not how I planned to tell you.” 

Then he pointed at Vertigo. 

“You. Take these two out of here. Get them back to the cell. I need to speak with Remy alone.” 

Logan growled and moved closer to the boy. Jean glanced at Vertigo, silently asking the woman for help. Somehow, she trusted her. At least when it came to Remy. Vertigo quickly understood. 

“I’m sorry sir, but I don’t think that it’s a wise choice. They can overpower me even without their mutations.” 

For a long moment, Sinister was just staring at them with visible anger. But then he took a calming breath and nodded. 

“As you wish. What I wanted to say is that I know who your parents are, Remy. Your biological parents.” 

Remy’s eyes widened. He took a step backwards and Logan took half a step to put himself between Sinister and the boy. The scientist nodded. 

“Your mother was down in New Orleans when she met your father. She was married at that time, so she made sure that no one found out about it. She managed to convince her husband that you were his child. But then she saw you, and she understood that her husband would never believe her. I think you can guess why.” 

Remy, although completely shocked, nodded. 

“My eyes.” 

“Exactly. So she decided to give you to your father. But, before she managed to do that, someone kidnapped you. Then the thieves took you from your kidnappers and there was no way for your father to find you again.” 

Remy slowly moved forward, Logan following him like a shadow.

“How do you know so much about that?” 

Sinister just smirked again. 

“Your father’s name is Nathaniel Essex.” 

Remy paled but other than that, he seemed to be almost unnaturally calm. 

“And my mother?” 

Sinister looked serious again. 

“That’s where we have a problem. Your mother is Katherine Summers. I mean, was. She’s sadly dead.” 

Jean gasped while Remy got white like a sheet. Logan frowned. 

“Isn’t that…” 

Jean nodded. 

“Scott’s mother.” 

Remy kept his eyes on Sinister. 

“Does he know?” 

The scientist nodded slowly. 

“Why didn’t he tell me?” 

Jean wanted to say something but Sinister was quicker. 

“I’m sorry about that Remy. I really am.” 

Everyone was quiet for a long moment. Logan was tense, waiting for what would happen. Jean was a bit unsure of what she should say. Vertigo, having been around Sinister for a long time, knew better than to speak up. Then, Remy’s quiet voice cut through the silence. 

“That’s why you never gave up on me.” 

Sinister nodded. 

“All I wanted to do was protect you. But the way you were raised made you independent. You didn’t need a father back then, so I didn’t want to mess with your head.” 

Remu took a slow step towards him. 

“You looked for me?” 

Once again, the scientist nodded. 

“Yes. But you of all people know that, when the thieves don’t want you to find something or someone, you won’t find it.” 

A small smile appeared on the boy’s face. And Logan snapped. 

“Remy. Don’t trust him. He’s trying to trick you. You said it yourself. He used you before.” 

He took a step towards Remy and reached out but, somehow, he must’ve moved too quickly because Remy got startled. He moved back and his hip hit the bed. His hand reached for a card and that was when he realized that he was still in his underwear. Before anyone managed to move, Sinister pointed his hand at Logan and the feral was thrown against the wall. Remy glanced towards the man behind him. Sinister kept his eyes on Logan. The metal casings floated over to him and snapped on his hands again. Before Logan managed to recover from the hit, Sinister walked over to him and tried to put the collar on him. But, by then, the feral got up to his feet. He charged at Sinister, only to fall down and throw up when Vertigo’s power hit him. Sinister snapped the collar around his neck and put his hand on the feral’s head. The man fell to the ground, unconscious. Remy, still in shock, just stared at them. In his entire thieving history, he had been through much. But this made him speechless. Sinister stood up and was turning towards Jean, when she quickly moved over to Remy. 

“Remy. You need to lay down again. The fact that your fever is gone, doesn’t mean that you’re all well again. I don’t think you realize how worried I was when you were ill.” 

Sinister frowned when he looked at her, while Remy just stared at her. Vertigo took a step towards him. 

“She’s right, Remy. You need to rest. I’ll get you some lunch.” 

Jean felt nervousness. She knew that Remy was in a very difficult spot. And that he would need someone on his side. Someone he could trust. And, to make sure that she would be allowed to stay with Remy, she needed to stay on Sinister’s good side. The scientist seemed to consider everything very thoroughly before he looked at Vertigo. 

“Go. And get some food for Miss Grey too. And tell Scalphunter to pick this one up and take him back to the cell.” 

The woman left quickly while Remy looked around. Jean, understanding what he was looking for, picked up his clothes and gave them to him. Remy dressed quickly and sat down on the bed. Sinister glanced over to the clock. 

“I need to leave for some time. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Rest, Remiel.” 

And he walked out. Scalphunter walked inside, grabbed Logan and walked out of there. Remy turned to Jean. She was struck by how serious his eyes were. 

“Why are you here?” 


	11. Do You Really Trust Him?

Jean frowned. 

“What do you mean?” 

Remy reached into the drawer next to the bed and smiled when he noticed a deck of cards there. He pulled it out and started to play with it. 

“They will think you’re a traitor. I’m his son. You sticking with me, will make them distrust you. You must know that.” 

Jean hesitated for a moment, before she reached out and grabbed his hand, making him drop some of the cards in the process. 

“Remy. I don’t care whose son you are. I don’t care what others will think about me. You are my friend. And I will not abandon you. Please. Just trust me.” 

For almost three whole minutes, he just stared at her. Then, he nodded slowly and picked up the cards that he had dropped. Jean tilted her head slightly. 

“Remy? Can I ask you something?” 

He nodded. The woman hesitated slightly. She knew that Remy was still not sure about having someone so close to him. And, if she didn’t chose her words well, he could turn away from her. 

“Do you really trust him?” 

Remy’s eyes flashed with anger for a second, but then he seemed to calm down. His eyes slowly moved to the operation table and a shiver went through his body. 

“I… He’s my father.” 

Jean nodded. 

“Yes. I know. And I’m not going to try to get between you two. But do you really trust him?” 

Remy turned back to her. 

“No. No, I don’t.” 

She smiled slightly. 

“Alright. What are we going to do now?” 

He frowned. Pure surprise was written all over his face. 

“What?” 

Jean made a move with her hand to point towards the rest of the room. 

“I can guess that you are not so happy to stay in this room. Is there anywhere we could go? Some kind of living room or something else?” 

Remy smiled. 

“Oui. There is a living room. But maybe we should go to the kitchen instead. Iggy said she would make us some food.” 

He put the cards in his pants pocket and stood up. His hand moved up to the collar around his neck. Jean glanced down at it. 

“How are you doing?” 

The cajun shrugged. 

“It’s alright. I’m slowly getting used to it. But I’m not going to lie. I miss my powers.” 

Jean wanted to answer but, before she could even open her mouth, the door opened and a man in a black suit walked inside. Remy instantly tensed up. 

“Riptide.” 

“Gambit.” 

The man passed them and walked over to one of the cabinets. He looked inside it and sighed. 

“LeBeau. Do you know where he keeps the poisons in?” 

Remy frowned. 

“Why do you need them?” 

Violet eyes turned to them. 

“Creed. What did you think?” 

The cajun shook his head. 

“Non. Victor wanted to help. But you know how easy he loses control once he smells blood and fear.”  

Riptide just looked at him without a word. They were silent for a long moment, before the man started slowly: 

“Listen LeBeau, you…” 

“It’s Essex.” 

Both Jean and the Marauder looked at him with shock. Remy was keeping his red and black eyes on Riptide. 

“From what I’ve understood, my name is Remiel Essex. It’s best if I get used to it.” 

Something softened in the man’s hard stare. 

“Le… Remy. Listen to me. Go somewhere, where you’ll be safe. Stay as far away from the dungeon as you can. Understood?” 

“But…” 

“No. No buts. You have to stay away from the dungeons. Scalphunter said that.” 

That got Remy’s full attention. 

“Greycrow? But…” 

Riptide started to quickly spin his body and Remy pulled Jean in behind him. His eyes were wide open but determined. He still remembered the night in the tunnels. Seeing Riptide’s shurikens slash through the mutants was something he didn’t wish for anyone. Not even his worst enemy. Jean grabbed the back of his shirt and tried to move him out of the way but, for someone who had gone through such fever, he was almost unnaturally steady on his feet. Remy’s hands twitched but he knew that there was no reason to reach for his cards. It wouldn’t help. Not with the collar on. So, instead, he did something he never thought he would do. He concentrated on Sinister. On the black presence in his mind. ‘We need help.’ It was the first time he did this. Before, he would always do whatever he could to make sure that no thought escaped him. Even when he had been forced to keep his walls down. He still kept some things to himself. Now he reached out. He knew how Riptide could get when he was mad. It was almost worse than Creed. A few seconds later, black smoke filled the room and Sinister appeared between Remy and the spinning man. Riptide got thrown back against the wall. His eyes widened and his hand came up to his head where a big gash had appeared. Seconds later the door opened and Scalphunter rushed inside. He looked at Remy and Jean, and quickly moved towards them. 

“Come on. Let’s get you out of here.” 

Remy nodded and started to back towards the door, keeping Jean behind him all the time. As soon as they walked out of the room, he let out a breath. 

“Merci, Greycrow.” 

The man shrugged. 

“Don’t thank me. Thank him.” 

Remy glanced back to the door they had left through. They all heard a few thumps and then it slammed open. 

“What did he want?” 

Remy hesitated. Jean, finding courage, stepped forward. 

“He wanted to find some poison. Something that you told him to find. To use on Creed.” 

Sinister frowned and turned back from Jean to Remy. 

“Is that true?” 

Remy nodded slowly. There was something odd about all of this. Something didn’t fit in but, without his empathy, he couldn’t feel anything. After a moment's hesitation, he decided that he had to ask. After all, he didn’t have anything to lose. 

“Um… Sinister?” 

The man turned to him with a frown on his face but Remy didn’t change the title he used. For now, he wasn’t ready to call the man ‘father’. Sinister, most probably understanding that, nodded. 

“What is it?” 

Remy put his hand on the collar. 

“Could you take this off?” 

For a moment, everyone was quiet. Then, the scientist pulled out a key and walked over to Remy. He moved his hair to the side and unlocked the collar. Remy groaned when he felt the emotions from everyone slam into him. He felt his kinetic part of his mutation come back and it was all so overwhelming that his walls automatically put themselves in place, even stronger than before. He felt fear and looked up to Sinister’s face, but the scientist just smiled. 

“It’s alright. You don’t need to keep them down. I know how much pain it brings you. But I hope that you will listen to what you are told from now on. I really don’t like hurting you. Scalphunter. Take them to the kitchen. And stay with them.” 

The man nodded and started to walk away, but Remy was still standing in one place. Standing and staring at Sinister. He was almost overwhelmed. The man felt so much, but what he felt most was satisfaction. So deep that Remy felt it just wash over him, drowning everything else out. But then he pulled himself together, put his arm around Jean’s waist and quickly dragged her with him, following Scalphunter away from the scientist. While walking, he let his empathy stretch out through the entire building. He felt excitement coming from where he knew the training area was and he guessed that some of the Marauders must be training. Moving past Sinister’s satisfaction, he noticed Riptide’s fear. And he knew that it was completely justified. No one wanted to get on the scientist’s bad side. In the kitchen, Vertigo was calm. No worries, no other emotions. Just calm. Down in the basement, he felt a bit of fear, some sadness and quite much excitement. It surprised him, but it didn’t have to mean anything. Then he remembered Riptide’s words. ‘Stay away from the dungeons.’ Was something going on? He concentrated on Scalphunter. The man was mostly calm, but there was some nervousness under it all. Then he moved on to Jean. She was nervous and scared. But there was also calmness and trust coming off of her. And Remy understood. She was scared of what would happen to them, but she trusted him. Suddenly, he felt anger nearing and a few seconds later, Blockbuster came walking towards them. His steps were angry and it seemed that he didn’t care that they were in the way. He just walked straight forwards. And Remy felt fear from Jean. He pulled her closer and sent a wave of calmness towards her. She looked at him with shock. This wasn’t the first time this happened. But it was the first time she realized this. All those times their arguments just faded off into calm conversations. All the times Logan and Scott were at eachothers throats, only to calm down and start reasoning with each other. She had never realized how much Remy was actually doing for them. How often he had helped them, without them noticing it. Scalphunter frowned when he noticed the way the big man was just walking towards them. Remy stretched himself up a bit and held his head high, just like Jean-Luc had taught him. Jean frowned seeing the change in his stance and way of walking. He looked more like a prince than a thief in that moment. And something in his stance must’ve gotten through to Blockbuster’s mind, because he moved a bit to the side and just walked past them. Remy smirked and let himself relax again. He never really felt comfortable with the whole Prince of Thieves title. He liked being just Gambit. Being just Remy LeBeau. And, suddenly, it hit him fully. He wasn’t Remy LeBeau. He was Remiel Essex. A mad scientist’s son. That was all he was.


	12. It's Time

The X-Men all looked up when the door opened. It was too early for Scrambler. Scalphunter had told them that they would have a few hours. Then, Scalphunter walked inside, dragging Logan after him. He threw the feral on the ground and nodded towards Scott. 

“Here. You can have him with you on the escape. And I picked this up on the way.” 

He put Scott’s glasses on the floor and turned to walk away. Scott quickly stood up and took a few steps towards him. 

“Where is Jean? And Remy?” 

The Marauder sighed. 

“They are still up there. But it looked as if Remy was feeling better.” 

Then he turned back and smiled softly. 

“Don’t worry, Summers. Mister Sinister has always had a soft spot for Remy. And as long as Grey stays with the cajun, she’ll be alright.” 

And he marched out. Ororo was already next to Logan. His eyes were slowly opening. Then, remembering what he had heard, he sat up straight and looked around. 

“Remy. He’s Sinister’s…” 

“Son.” 

Scott nodded. 

“We know. Sinister was down here to tell us that already. As well as the fact that Remy is my half-brother.” 

The feral grunted. 

“So that’s what he’s planning.” 

Xavier used his arms to pull himself closer to them. 

“What are you talking about, Logan?” 

Said man took a deep breath and turned towards Scott. 

“Remy asked him if you knew. Sinister said that you did. And the way Remy looked right then. I think Sinister wants Remy to believe that you knew about him being your brother. And that you, for some reason, didn’t want him as your family. He wants him to hate you. Make him turn away from us.” 

Scott closed his eyes. 

“That bastard.” 

Bobby and Rogue moved closer to them. 

“Do you think Remy will believe him? And work with him again?” 

Logan hesitated. He had seen all the emotions that crossed Remy’s face when Sinister talked about his mother. The way he almost looked hopeful. 

“I’m not sure if Remy will agree to going back to how it was before. But he longs for family. He was way too young when he was banished. And, from what I understood, Jean-Luc never really tried to tell him that he wasn’t an orphan. He was an amazing man and the father that Remy needed when he was a child. But Remy always knew that he had been adopted. After all, he wasn’t that young when LeBeau took him in. He wants a family where he won’t stick out. Where he will be accepted just how he is. If Sinister acts correctly, I’m afraid Remy will stay with him. And there is something else. Vertigo talked with us about him. She said that Remy is a very social person. Touch starved. And I thought back to how we all had been pushing him away all the time. Remy trusted us. He tried to get close to us, show us his softer side. The side that he kept hidden from so many. The side that he seemed to be scared to show. And none of us was smart enough to notice anything. That he was reaching out to us.” 

The others were quiet. None of them knew what to say. After all, they had all pushed Remy away. None of them had ever accepted him the same way they had accepted each other. Scott closed his eyes. He had been one of those people who were most unpleasant to Remy. And, to be honest, he didn’t even know why. Logan looked around and frowned. 

“Why are your glasses here?” 

Scott quickly picked them up.

“Scalphunter is helping us escape. Scrambler will come down here with food. We have to overpower him, take the key to our collars and get out of here.” 

The feral frowned. 

“But what about…?” 

“Jean and Remy? We’ll be back for them. But we need help. We won’t be able to take this place down alone. And, as long as Jean is with Remy, they will both be safe.” 

Bobby started to fiddle with the collar. 

“Who are we going to get?” 

Everyone quieted as they thought about it. 

“Alex. We’re getting Alex.” 

Ororo nodded. 

“And Piotr. I’m not sure if any of us really have a chance against Blockbuster without Colossus.” 

They all nodded in agreement. Rogue, who had been thinking about their chances, frowned. 

“What about Sinister?” 

The rest of them turned to Xavier but the telepath shook his head. 

“However much I wish I could say that I can help you, I don’t believe I can win over Mister Sinister.” 

Hank frowned. 

“And what about Jean? I mean. With the Phoenix’s help, it could be enough.” 

Scott shot a deathly glare at him. 

“Jean is not going to let the Phoenix out. You know that it is too dangerous for her.” 

Hank put his hands up in the air. 

“I apologize.” 

Right then, they heard steps outside the door and Logan sniffed in the air. 

“Food. It’s time.” 

He and Hank moved to the door and placed themselves on both sides of it. A few seconds later, the door opened and a man stepped inside. He was calm, unsuspecting. Logan used the metal casings to his advantage and smashed them on the man’s head. With a soft grunt, Scrambler fell to the ground. Hank quickly caught him and lowered him gently. Meanwhile, Scott put on his glasses, grabbed the key that had fallen out of Scrambler’s pocket and unlocked his collar. His glasses started to glow and he quickly closed his eyes, before he managed to get his power under control. Then he turned to the others. 

“I’m going to unlock the collars now, but be very careful. It’s overwhelming.” 

They all nodded and he started to unlock them. Xavier grunted when he heard all the voices come back at once. Bobby’s entire body shifted to ice and he gasped. A few seconds later, he managed to get it under control and changed back to his normal body. Rogue simply shrugged it off and stood up. She grabbed the metal casings on Logan’s hands and ripped them open. Then she did the same to the ones on Hank. He sighed. 

“Thank you, Rogue.” 

She nodded and turned to Scott. 

“What now?” 

Scott slowly looked out through the door. The hallway was empty. He turned back to the others and saw a problem. 

“Um. Professor. Is it alright if Hank carries you?” 

Xavier nodded. 

“Yes. Of course. If that won’t slow you down too much.” 

Hank just rolled his eyes and picked him up, bridal style, without any problems. 

“This in no problem at all, Charles.” 

Scott took a deep breath. 

“Alright. Let’s go. Logan. I want you at the head. Make sure that we don’t get surprised from the front. I’ll be coming directly after you. Storm, I want you to keep close to Hank and the professor. In case anything happens, cover them. Bobby, Rogue, cover our backs. I know that Scalphunter said no one uses that path, but I want to have everyone safe. Understood?” 

They all nodded and moved to stand like he had said. Slowly they made their way to the hallway on the first floor, when a door on the left opened and Remy stepped out, with Jean next to him. They both stopped when they noticed the other X-Men. Scott put a hand on Logan’s shoulder and their little group stopped. For almost an entire minute, everyone was quiet. Then, Scott firmly pushed Logan back a bit and took a step towards the other two. Seeing that, Remy whipped out a charged card. But, to the others surprise, he didn’t throw it. Scott glanced over to Jean and noticed that her collar was still on. Slowly, he put his hands up in the air. 

“Remy. Calm down. We won’t hurt you.” 

The boy hesitated but didn’t drop the card. 

“Listen. Come with us. We have the key, so we can unlock Jean’s collar. Let’s go back home.” 

Remy smirked. 

“Home? To the mansion? As if I was still welcome there.”  

Ororo frowned at that and stepped forward. 

“What are you talking about? Of course you are welcome in the mansion.” 

He tilted his head. 

“Am I?” 

“Of course, Remy.” 

And he smiled. But it wasn’t the smile that they all were used to. It was fake. 

“But, you see, that’s not my name. My name is Remiel Essex. So tell me, Ororo. Is Remiel Essex welcome?” 

Scott shrugged. 

“We know that Sinister is your father, Remy. But you are not him.” 

Remy turned his stare from Storm to Cyclops. 

“You know. Huh. That’s a funny thing, you know. Knowing.” 

And Scott understood what the boy was talking about. 

“Yes. I know that you are my brother. But, Remy…” 

“Non. You knew, and you didn’t tell me.” 

Jean put her hand on his shoulder and he glanced back to her.


	13. Go

They arrived in the kitchen without any further incidents. There, Scalphunter nodded and left, without saying anything else. Vertigo quickly put two plates of lasagna on the table. 

“Here. Sit down and eat. I spiced it up a bit, but that’s as far as I can go with the ingredients that we have here now. But I promise that I’ll go to a store and buy up on everything we’ll need to make you some cajun food.” 

Jean frowned, but then she noticed how Remy’s eyes lit up. 

“Really?” 

Vertigo frowned. 

“Wait. There is something wrong. Remy. When was the last time you ate something cajun? And I mean really cajun. Something that was made the way you would make it back in Louisiana.” 

He had to actually think about it for a moment. 

“I… I haven’t eaten any since I left this place.” 

Jean tilted her head a bit but decided to stay quiet and just see how things would progress. Vertigo moved over to where Remy had sat down and sat next to him. 

“Why not? I know how important your culture is for you.” 

His shoulders tensed but relaxed quickly when the Marauder put her hand on his shoulder. 

“I couldn’t.” 

“Why not?” 

He just shook his head, but Jean suddenly understood. She remembered that one time when Remy had actually cooked dinner for everyone. Scott had just sniffed it and gone out, saying that he would not touch it. Rogue and Bobby had just turned away and refused to even try it. Hank had looked at the boy, grabbed a few sandwiches and disappeared down into the lab again. Logan had actually gone over to the pot and got a bit of the sauce on a spoon. He had licked it a bit and then quickly spit it out. But, at the same time, he must’ve noticed some change in Remy, because he put a hand on his shoulder and explained how it wasn’t the food that was the problem. That, since he was a feral, he couldn’t eat anything that was too spicy since it would hurt his taste sense. And Remy seemed to understand that. But then Scott had returned. He had started to talk about how he was absolutely not eat anything that looked like that. And that seemed to do something to Remy. He had grabbed the hot pot, charged it and let it all explode all over the kitchen. Then he marched out of the kitchen and disappeared into the woods. He didn’t come back until Logan went to get him. And he never went anywhere close to the kitchen again. He would just get his plate of food and disappear off to his room. And Jean realized that, even though they all had influenced their food with where they were from, no one ever even thought about the fact that Remy was used to something completely different. She looked at the other woman and said quietly: 

“That’s our fault.” 

Both Vertigo and Remy quickly turned to her. Remy opened his mouth but Jean cut him off before he managed to say anything. 

“No, Remy. It is our fault. And I’m sorry for it. I guess we all forgot that the food you are used to, is different from what we usually eat. I’m sorry.” 

He looked at her with wide eyes. Vertigo got up, grabbed a paper and a pen, and sat back down. 

“All right. Let’s write it up. I’ll go as soon as we have it all. Catfish. I remember that you loved it. Chicken and goose were your favorites too, right?” 

Remy nodded, his mouth full. Jean started to eat too. 

“I’ll make some boudin too, while I’m at it. I know you don’t like to freeze your food, but it will be good to have around when we need to fix something quickly. I’ll also look around if I can get my hands on some alligator meat. Or I’ll just send John down to New Orleans. And maybe he could pick up some frogs too. We could put a frog leg in Arclights food again, just to see her freak out.” 

Remy was by now completely relaxed again, while Jean was kinda shocked. Most of the food the woman was mentioning, never even made appearance in the X-Men kitchen. Sure they ate chicken. And there was that one time when Logan came home with a few geese that he had caught. But other than that, they kept to pretty usual ingredients like pork and beef. Sometimes fish or a vegetable soup. And Vertigo just continued. 

“Actually, I’m going to go there with him and pick up some other meat too. So that we don’t have to worry for the future. Deer for sure. Umm… Have you ever tasted opossum?” 

Remy made a disgusted face. 

“Oui. Me and Henri caught one once and convinced Tante Mattie to cook it for us. Never again.” 

She smiled. 

“Alright. No opossum. But I remember you liked dove, right?” 

He nodded quickly. Jean just watched their interaction with wonder. This was the first time she had seen Remy so relaxed and open. While they finished their food, Vertigo finished the list. Then, she stood up and grabbed the paper. 

“Alright. I’ll find John and we’ll get going. We’ll just have to tell Mister Sinister first. When you are finished, just put the dishes in the sink. We’ll see whose turn it will be this time. Your room is still in the same place.” 

Then she kissed the top of his head and left. Remy sighed and went back to eating. Jean noticed that he was clearly avoiding her, so she decided that she needed to show him that it was still alright. 

“Remy. I’m really sorry for never taking into consideration that your culture makes you liked different food than ours. I feel that you have been pretty much forced into abandoning a part of yourself.” 

He shrugged and stood up to put his plate away. 

“It’s alright. I adapt quickly.” 

Jean stood up too and, after putting her plate in the sink, grabbed his hand. 

“Remy. It shouldn’t be this way. I’m really sorry.” 

He looked at her, really looked at her then, and smiled softly. 

“I know, Jeannie. But it’s not your fault.” 

He squeezed her hand gently and then pulled away from her. 

“Alright. Let’s go. I know a way. It will be a bit longer but we won’t be seen by the others. No one uses it since it pretty much goes around the entire building before it gets to where we want to be. Come on.” 

He led her around the mansion almost as if he had lived there his entire life. Then he opened the door and stepped into a big hall. And Jean noticed how he suddenly stopped. There, in the middle of the hall, stood all the other X-Men. She stopped next to Remy, who had by now pulled a card out and charged it. She stayed quiet through Ororo’s request for Remy to go back to the mansion. But when the part about Remy and Scott came up, she decided that she needed to do something. She put her hand on Remy’s shoulder and smiled when he turned back to her. 

“Remy. Please, don’t.” 

He hesitated. Suddenly, Bobby pushed past all of them and stood in front of their little group. 

“Rem...iel. Remiel. Listen. You may not like us. But I want you to just listen to me for a moment. I bet you remember being here the last time. I know you remember the experiments.” 

Remy shivered and nodded. 

“And, even though you hate us right now, I know for a fact that you would not wish that for us. If you let us go, we promise not to bother you. If you try to stop us, we’ll end up in the labs. The choice is yours.” 

Everyone seemed to be shocked by how clever that was. Even if Remy didn’t want to let them go, there was no way he would put anyone through Sinister’s lab. After a moment, Remy pulled the charge back and put the card in his pocket. 

“Go.” 

He took a step to the side and just watched while they walked past him. Scott turned around, when the entire group had passed them, and said quietly: 

“Jean. Come on. Let’s go.” 

She noticed how Remy froze next to her, but he didn’t say anything. Slowly, she shook her head. 

“No. I’m staying with Remy.” 

Black and red eyes fixed themselves on her face. Then he quickly turned back to Scott, when the man took a step towards them. Jean gently pulled at his shoulder. 

“Remy. Come on. We shouldn’t be here when they figure out that everyone has escaped.” 

He nodded. Slowly they walked back through the door they had came through. Remy led her through a series of halls and doors. They arrived in one of the hallways and Remy relaxed. 

“My room is over there.” 

He smiled softly but his smile fell when all the lights in the hall turned red. 

“Merde.” 

Jean turned to him. 

“Did they...?” 

He nodded. At the same moment, Prism ran into the hall. He stopped when he noticed them. 

“Gambit. You know what’s going on?” 

He shook his head. 

“Non.” 

They looked at each other for a moment and then Prism nodded. 

“Alright. Come with me. Mister Sinister is in the labs.” 

Remy grabbed Jean’s hand and they both followed the crystal man. 


	14. Yes, Sir

Remy was scared. He wouldn’t show it but he was really scared. Letting the others go was hard. On one side, he wanted to believe them. He missed them. It was a big change for him. But Sinister was his father. He couldn’t let anything get between them. They were family. Blood family. And wasn’t that what he had always wanted? Jean-Luc was great, but there was always something there. Something that didn’t quite add up. He always felt loved. It wasn’t that. But he sometimes felt as if he was an outsider. Especially when he watched the interaction between Jean-Luc and Henri. And now he had a chance to have it himself. But then it suddenly hit him. It was Sinister. Could he really make it work with a man like that? They ran into the laboratory, where Arclight and Scrambler were standing, and Remy stopped close to the door. He kept Jean right next to him, just to be safe. He trusted that the Marauders wouldn’t try anything, but he also knew how they could get when they were irritated. And that was never pretty. Sinister looked over to them. 

“Remiel. Come here.” 

Remy quickly walked over to his side, pulling Jean along with him. Sinister raised an eyebrow when he noticed that they were holding hands but didn’t comment on it. 

“We seem to have a problem. The X-Men escaped. I’ve already sent out everyone to cover all the exits. You don’t happen to know anything about that right?” 

“Non.” 

The lie slipped his mouth with such ease, that even Jean glanced up to him. But he was a thief. He had grown up on the streets. He knew how to lie on the spot. Sinister kept his eyes on him and Remy felt fear again. Would he get into his mind again? But then, the man nodded. 

“Alright. I know that they have managed to get the collars off, so I want you to stay here with me. Understood?” 

Remy felt sudden irritation. 

“Why? I can hold my own against them!” 

Sinister put a hand on his shoulder. 

“I know you can. But I don’t want you to be at risk. You are safe here and that’s the most important thing to me. Alright?” 

Remy was stunned into silence. That wasn’t what he had been expecting. Sinister, most probably noticing his shock, smiled softly. 

“Listen. I lost you twice already. First in that hospital, then in those tunnels. And I admit that both times were my fault. I don’t want to lose you again.” 

Once again, Remy got confused by the emotions coming from the man. Satisfaction, disgust, pity, a bit of anger and something that he couldn’t really get. Something that felt completely wrong. It was something he had never felt before and couldn’t put a name to it. He just stood there, staring at the scientist. And slowly, he got pulled in by those emotions. It was becoming too much and, however much he tried to, he couldn’t get out. He couldn’t control it anymore. Everyone’s emotions hit him even harder than before. It was almost like the first time he discovered his power. He still remembered it. The way it overwhelmed him. Since then, he had gotten a hang on it. He could filter people out. But this, now, was horrifying. Sinister frowned. 

“Remiel?” 

He wanted to respond, but he couldn’t get a sound out. He didn’t notice when he let go of Jean’s hand. Then, Arclight hurried over to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Remy?” 

But the contact only made it worse. He started to shake and Arclight found herself thrown across the room by Sinister’s power. He grabbed the boy's chin and forced their eyes to meet. 

“Remy. You need to calm down. Shut them out.” 

He tried, but Arclight’s fear and pain added to the mix that he felt. He pushed the scientist away and backed up against the wall. And that was when Jean decided to come in. She smiled softly while she went up to him and put her hand on his cheek. 

“Remy. Look at me. Just me. It’s just the two of us here. Forget all the others. It’s just you and me. We’re safe. Both of us. Don’t worry about anything else. Please. I need you to relax.” 

And it all fell into place. Her green eyes anchored him in one spot. He concentrated on her. She was calm. In some miraculous way, she had managed to remain calm. Slowly, he shut them all out and regained the control. He nodded and then pulled her into a hug. 

“Merci, Jeannie. Merci.” 

She smiled and hugged him back. 

“It’s alright. Just take it easy, alright?” 

He nodded again. 

“D’accord.” 

Sinister watched them with curiosity. Then, when they pulled apart, he smiled. 

“Remiel?” 

Remy shrugged. 

“Remy’s fine.” 

And sudden anger appeared in the scientist’s eyes. 

“What did I tell you about that?” 

His voice was cold and angry. Remy instinctively took a step back, pulling Jean in behind him. 

“Quoi?” (What?) 

Sinister looked even more angry. 

“Talking about yourself in third person. It’s pointing to a very unhealthy mental state and I will not accept that of my son. And lose that Yat! I hate to hear you abuse the Queen's English!” 

Remy was looking at him with wide eyes. This was something he hadn’t expected. Of course, Sinister had always been irritated whenever he would talk in third person. And he had always tried to talk him out of using his cajun accent. But to go as far as outright demanding it. No. That had never happened. But then again, he hadn’t known before. And maybe Sinister had always had good intentions in mind, but knew that he couldn’t push it too far, since he didn’t want to reveal that they were related. And, if he was being honest, losing his accent and patterns of speaking was a very small price for getting a family. So he nodded and answered in british that he had picked up from when he was on a job in england. 

“I apologize, sir.” 

Jean’s head snapped up to his face. She was shocked. All trace of his cajun accent was gone. He sounded english and that didn’t fit in with the way he looked. Sinister smiled. 

“It’s alright, my boy. Just keep in mind that I do not want to hear any of that Yat around here anymore. Understood?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

Jean glanced around and noticed that Arclight, Scrambler and Prism were just as shocked as she was. Sinister turned away from them and faced Scrambler. 

“Now. Talk. What happened?” 

The Marauder paled considerably. 

“I walked down to the cell and opened the door. Then I felt a hit on the head and everything went black.” 

Sinister nodded and seemed to think about that. Then he pointed his hand towards Scrambler and the man fell down onto the floor. His head hit the edge of a table and, when he landed on the floor, blood started to flow. Sinister rolled his eyes. 

“Why do they always have to dirty the floor? 

He then turned to the others. 

“Arclight, Prism. Go and see how things are in the west wing.” 

Then he turned back to Remy and Jean. 

“You two are staying with me, until everything is under control again.” 

Remy was still confused by the feelings the other man was giving off, but decided to ignore it for now. He had other things to worry about. 

 


End file.
